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A* "T U I" '•»*• 





THB ALAMO, 



HISTORY 



T E X A 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 



A description of its principal Cities and Counties, and the Agricnlturalj Mineral, 
and Material Resources of the State. 



J. M. MOEPHIS. 



X 



NEW YORK: 

UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

13 Univebsity Place. 

1874. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. M. MORPHIS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



John F. Tko-w & Son, 

peintees and bookbindeks, 

205-213 East 12,h St., 

NEW YOEK. 






DEDICATION. 



To the people of Texas and the United States, this work is re- 
spectfully inscxibed, with the fervent hope that it may, in some 
degree, lead to a better understanding of the past, and tend some- 
what to the diminution of all unpleasant feelings engendered in 
their hearts by their mutual sufferings and calamities during the 
late contest betw-een the Northern and Southern States. 

In a history of Texas, it is impossible to omit the four long 
weary years of war, yet the writer has not treated these at any 
length, nor attempted a description of a single one of the many 
bloody engagements of the war, hoping that they may be remem- 
bered alone to prevent their recurrence. 

The cettlement of Anglo-Americans in Texas, and the causes 
which led to the Texas Revolution, and the establishment of the 
Kepublic of Texas, with a narrative of the principal events which 
occurred during its existence, constitute the main part of this 
volume, and vindicate the citizens of Texas as well as those of the 
United States from the unjust charge of Mexicans, that by might, 
not right, Texas was wrested from Mexico, and made one of the 
United States. 

Although the Comanches and other Indians were in the peace- 
able occupation and enjoyment of most all of Texas in 1836, the 
writer has not investigated their title, but admits that of Spain 
and Mexico to have been good, and claims, through the latter, as 



iv DEDICATION. 

the United States claim their soil through Great Britain, by the 
right of revolution and self-preservation. 

In this volume, the author's intention has been to show plainly 
and clearly to the world, that Texans were not only right in throw- 
ing off the government of Mexicans (who had invited them to 
colonize their wild lands with the promise of equal rights with 
themselves, and after inducing them through empresarios, or co- 
lonial agents, to leave their homes in the United States and endure 
the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of a 
country bordering on warKke savages, and, afterwards faithless 
to their promises, attempted to enslave them), but that they de- 
serve the praise of all good people for changing a wilderness into 
green fields and happy homes, founding prosperous cities in the 
whilom haunts of the cruel Comanches, and, after ten years' warfare 
against vastly superior numbers, adding a great State (more than 
five times larger than the State of New York, and containing more 
than a million inhabitants) to the American Union, which, may 
the gi-eat, wise, and most merciful God, forever shield, protect, and 
advance, in power, wisdom, and happiness ! 



PKEFAOE. 



In the great arena of human life, whether in the cause of 
virtue and progress, or in that of vice and immorality, wise 
men have agreed that 

" The pen is mightier than the sword." 

Whenever a free and elevated press has attacked any pub- 
lic abuse, or any public policy in a government of the peo- 
ple, it will be observed that it has been changed. 

" Thoughts that breathe and words that bum," 

are sent out by the press to eagerly waiting readers, who 
may be benefited or injured thereby. 

The personification of a virtuous thought may arrest the 

hand of a would-be assassin, humble the proud heart of the 

monarch on his throne, and lead one who is far astray from 

the lovely paths of rectitude and happiness, to the worship 

' of the pure, the beautiful and the good. 

A story well told, of noble and generous action, may thrill 
the hard heart of an obdurate miser with admiration, and 
cause him to give his hoarded treasures to the relief of the 
distressed. 

But while good thoughts come to us from the press as rain 
from heaven, causing us to be " gentle, mild and kind " — " to 
be wise as serpents but harmless as doves " — alas, it often 



VI 



VREFAGE. 



happens that ugly, hateful and slanderous lies issue from the 
press and go forth on their mission of evil. 

And a prostituted press is almost as powerful for evil in 
making the worse appear the better side, as the virtuous 
press is in the defence of truth. 

The great poet of Avon sajs : 

" Slander, 
Whose edge is sharper than the sword ; whose tongue 
Out- venoms all the worms of Nile ; whose breath 
Rides on the passing winds, and doth belie 
All corners of the world, Kings, Queens and States, 
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave 
This viperous slander enters." 

Now, in view of the power of the press for good and evil, 
I do most earnestly pray the Almighty to aid and encourage, 
to comfort and cherish, particularly here in America, a truth- 
ful and virtuous press. 

But a lying, slanderous one, let it not abide in our country I 
and may the eyes of those who support such a one be opened 
to the enormity of their offence ! 

May they see and understand that to buy and read a 
slanderous history is to give aid, comfort and encouragement 
to vice : 

" Whicji is a monster of so frightful mien. 
As to be hated needs but to be seen ; 
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face. 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 

The historian should be found upon the watch-tower of 
freedom sounding the alarm and giving notice of the insidi- 



PRE FACE. 



VU 



ous approach of the enemies of liberty or working for the 
advancement of learning, the progress of science and art. 

He shonld labor in the glorious cause of humanity for 
whatsoever things tend to produce the greatest happiness to 
the greatest number. 

And his noble efforts thus directed to the happiness of 
mankind should receive the sympathy and encouragement 
of all good people. Such men live in the memory of a 
grateful posterity as benefactors of their race. 

Magnanimous Hector will keep Homer fresh in the hearts 
of his readers so long as men continue to admire honor and 
bravery. 

Shakspeare, Bacon and Addison will never die, while our 
own Franklin, Jefferson and Irving will forever live in the 
hearts of their countrymen. 

If, in the following pages, the writer has prostituted his 
pen and thrown impediments in the way of his people and 
country to prosperity and happiness, in the impressive lan- 
guage of the poet : 

* * * " The wretch 

Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 

And, doubly dying, shall go down 

To the vUe dust, from whence he sprung, 

Unwept, unhonored and unsung." 

Even the doom. of the traitor, pronounced by the author of 
"Lalla Eookh," that he should live in sight of the glorious and 
ineffable joys of paradise without being permitted to enter — 

"Beholding heaven and feeling hell," 

would not be too bad for him. 



Vlll 



PREFACE. 



His object has been to amuse and interest, if not to in- 
struct, and he closes the preface to his book with the presump- 
tuous quotation from the poet : 

" My thoughts * are with the dead ; anon 

My place with them will be, 
And I with them shall travel on 

Through all futurity. 
Yet leaving here a name, I trust, 
That will not perish in the dust. 

* Occasionally. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



CHAPTER 1 



The Discovery of Texas claimed by France and Spain. — ^Its Settlement 
by the Spanish. — Origin of the Name. — Letters of Generals Jackson 
and Houston. — Mexican Troops expelled from Texas. 

nnHE early history of Texas, like that of Greece, 
-■- Rome, or the Oriental nations of the Old World, 
is somewhat involved in obscurity. For while dis- 
tinguished French writers claim that La Salle took 
possession of the whole country from the Mississippi 
river to the Rio Grande in the year 1685, and made 
settlements therein for the glory and renown of their 
grand monarque Louis XIV., Spanish historians af- 
firm that De Soto, so far back as 1544, took possession 
of all the country lying west, as well as east of the 
Father of Waters^ in the name of his most Catholic 
majesty, the King of Spain. 

But as the names given to all the principal rivers in 
Texas, such as Trinidad, Angelina, Brazos de Dios, 

Colorado, Neches, Nueces, Guadalupe, Salado, San 
1 



10 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Marcos, Frio, Pecos and Rio Grande, are Spanish, we 
may reasonably conclude tliat Spain, rather than 
France, first settled Texas. 

And yet even the name, Texas, is of doubtful origin, 
for while some say that it was the name of the capi- 
tal village of the Nassonite Indians, others assert that 
it is derived from the S23anish word tejer, to weave, and 
applied to weaving the grass over and around their 
cottages ; and others that it is from tejas^ tiles, cover- 
ings, or cobwebs. 

The latter say that at an early day some Spaniards 
travelling the Camino del Rey, between San Antonio 
and the Hondo, camped on the Neches, and their com- 
mander, in the morning, beholding many spider-webs 
between himself and the rising sun, all spangled witli 
dew drops and glittering like diamonds, joyfully ex- 
claimed : " Mira las tejas I " — that is to say, " Look 
at the spider webs ! "• — and named the land Texas. 

The records of the famous mission of the Alamo 
show that it was founded in 1703 by the order of St. 
Francis. 

Before that time, in 1691, the Spaniards had made 
small settlements on the Hondo, Neches, and Guada- 
lupe, but on account of Indian hostilities they were 
abandoned. 

Not until 1715 were missions permanently estab- 
lished and maintained at the Alamo, Concepcion,- San 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. \l 

Jose, and among tlie Aes and Nacogdoclies Indians, 
near tlie present cities of San Augnstine and Nacog- 
doches. 

From civil strife, troubles witli the Indians, and 
other causes, the Spanish settlements did not flourish, 
for in 1765 the whole population of the province of 
Texas was estimated at 1,500 — one-half European, 
the other half domiciliated Indians ; while the sum 
total of its exports and imports were estimated at only 
ninety thousand dollars per annum. 

Under Spanish despotism and priestcraft, immigra- 
tion from other countries than Spain was prohibited, 
and Texas continued to languish until 1821, when 
Moses Austin, the father of S. F. Austin, was empow- 
ered to introduce colonists, who were to receive 640 
acres of land each, provided they were Koman Cath- 
olics, of good character and habits, and would be 
faithful subjects of his Catholic majesty. 

Moses Austin died in 1821, but his grant to found 
a colony in Texas was confirmed to his son, S. F. 
Austin on the 18th of February, 1823, by Iturbide, 
Emperor of Mexico, who, on the nineteenth of Marcii 
thereafter, abdicated, and gave way for the Republic 
of Mexico, under which Austin's grant was confirmed 
on the fourteenth of April following, when he pro- 
ceeded to locate and settle San Filipe, as the capital 
of his colony. 



12 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

Soon after, Hayden, Edwards, Sterling C. Robert- 
son, Martin de Leon, Green De Witt, James Powels, 
M'Mullen, and Gloine, were also made empresarios, as 
the leaders of colonies were called, and authorized to 
introduce immigrants ; and made settlements at Gon- 
zales, Victoria, Goliad, Refugio, Liberty, and at Na- 
cogdoches. 

Besides those introduced by the emjpresarios^ many 
immigrants came on their own account, and after look- 
ing round, exercised the divine right of Popes, Kings, 
and American citizens, squatter sovereignty ^ they 
pitched their tents in the forest on streams of running 
water, built their rude houses, fenced in rich land, 
ploughed, planted, and — although often annoyed by 
Indians and thieves — made bountiful crops and happy 
homes. 

In December, 1832, when General Sam Houston, 
an ex-member of Congress, and ex-governor of Ten- 
nessee, from his voluntary exile among savages — with 
whom 

" Wrought upon, perplex'd in the extreme," 

he had sought relief — first came to Texas, he found 
but two houses between Jonesborough and Nacog- 
doches. 

After visiting San Filipe, San Antonio, and Natch- 
itoches, Louisiana, fascinated with the country, he 
settled in Nacogdoches. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 13 

His name fills the brightest pages of Texan his- 
tory, and he is called the Father of Texas. 
'^ Yoakum says of him : 

" Among the new-comers into Texas in the year 1832 
was Sam Houston, late governor of the State of Ten- 
nessee, a man of extraordinary fortunes. By birth a 
Virginian, but brought up in Blount County, among 
the mountains of East Tennessee, he volunteered at an 
early age as a soldier in the army ; was promoted to 
the rank of lieutenant; fought at the battle of the 
Horseshoe ^ in which he was severely wounded ; re- 
turned to Tennessee, where he attracted the attention 
of General Jackson, and was taken into his military 
family ; was appointed Indian agent for the Chero- 
kees ; he afterward studied law, was elected attorney- 
general for Tennessee, and major-general of the state 
militia; represented the Nashville district in Con- 
gress, and was elected governor of the state. He was 
appointed second lieutenant in the 39 th regiment of 
infantry, by President Madison, on the 20th of April, 
1815, " to rank as such from the 20th of May, 1814; " 
and first lieutenant in the 1st regiment of infantry, by 
President Monroe, on the 5th of March, 1818, "to rank 
as such from the 1st of May, 1817." In November, 
1817, he was appointed sub-agent of the Cherokee In- 
dians. On the 14th of December, 1821, he was elected 
major-general of the middle division of Tennessee 



14, EI8T0B7 OF TEXAS, 

militia. In August of the years 1823 and 1825 lie 
was elected a representative to Congress; and in 
August, 1827, lie was chosen governor of the State of 
Tennessee ; married — which soon proving unfortunate, 
he resigned his office of governor, and in April, 1829, 
went into voluntary exile among those Cherokee In- 
dians, for whom he had been agent twelve years before. 
But they had been removed, and in 1829 were living 
on the Indian lands near Cantonment Gibson. He had 
been adopted by the chief, Oolooteka, and on the 21st 
of October of the above-mentioned year was. admitted 
to the rights of citizenship by an official act of the 
authorities of the nation. Among these people he sub- 
sisted by trade, making an occasional trip to the older 
states. 

In June 1829, President Jackson thus wrote to him 
about his exile and misfortunes: 



"My afSictioD. was great, and as much as I well could bear, when I 
parted with you on the 18th of January last. I then viewed you as on 
the brink of happiness, and rejoiced. About to be united in marriage 
to a beautiful young lady, of accomplished manners and of respectable 
connections, and of your own selection — you the governor of the state, 
and holding the aifections of the people: these were your prospects 
when I shook you by the hand and Tyade you farewell! You can well 
judge of my astonishment and grief in receiving a letter from you, dated 
at Little Rock, A. T., 11th of May, conveying the sad intelligence that 
you were then a private citizen, ' an exile from your country ! ' What 
reverse of fortune ! How unstable are all human affairs ! " 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 15 

What a sad commentary on the emptiness of all 
earthly things? 

The vanity of fame, ambition gratified, the posses- 
sion of wealth, beauty, and power ! 

Gov. Houston had them all, and yet, being unhappy, 
resigned them and went into voluntary exile among 
savages ! 

But: 

" There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough-hew them how we will." 

Soon becoming weary of his life with the Indians, 
he quit them and returned again to his people, after 
which, with his majestic person and excellent mind, 
he became a Samson in the field and a Solomon in 
counsel. 

As an evidence of his masterly genius, which seemed 
then to foresee the glorious results of the Texas rcA^o- 
lution, as it did later, the disastrous end of our late 
unhappy civil war, and in order to inform the reader 
what Texas then was under Mexican domination, and 
the brilliant future awaiting her, I here insert a genuine, 
verhatira et literatim, letter, which speaks for itself, 
from the beloved " Father of Texas," to his life-long 
friend, the illustrious hero of Chalmette : 



IQ , BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

NACHITOCE8, La., Feb. 13, 1833. 

To Peesideft Jacksoi^- : 

Dear Sir — Having been as far as Bexar, in tlie 
province of Texas, where I had an interview with the 
Comanche Indians, I am in possession of some informa- 
tion that will doubtless be interesting to you, and 
may be calculated to forward your views, if you 
should entertain any, touching the acquisition of 
Texas by the United States. That such a measure is 
desirable by nineteen-twentieths of the population of 
the province, I cannot doubt. They are now without 
laws to govern or protect them. Mexico is involved 
in civil war. The Federal Constitution has never 
been in operation. The government is essentially 
despotic, and must be so for years to come. The ru- 
lers have not honesty, and the people have not intelli- 
gence. 

The people of Texas are determined to form a 
State government, and to separate from Coahuila; 
and unless Mexico is soon restored to order, and the 
Constitution revived and re-enacted, the Province of 
Texas will remain separate from the confederacy of 
Mexico. She has already beaten and expelled all the 
troops of Mexico from her soil, nor will she permit 
them to return. She can defend herself against the 
whole power of Mexico ; for really Mexico is power- 
less and penniless to all intents and purposes. Her 



niSTOBT OF TEXAS. |7 

want of money, taken in connection with the course 
which Texas must and ivill adopt, will render a trans- 
fer of Texas inevitable to some power ; and if the 
United States does not press for it, England will most 
assuredly obtain it by some means. Now is a very 
important crisis for Texas, as relates to her future 
prosperity and safety, as well as the relation it is to 
bear toward the United States. If Texas is desirable 
to the United States, it is now in the most favorable 
attitude, perhaps, that it can be, to obtain it on fair 
terms. England is pressing her suit for it, but its 
citizens will resist if any transfer should be made of 
them to any other power but the United States. 

I have travelled nearly five hundred miles across 
Texas, and am now enabled to judge pretty correctly 
of the soil and the resources of the country. And I 
have no hesitation in pronouncing it the finest coun- 
try, to its extent, upon the globe; for the greater 
portion of it is richer and more healthy, in my opin- 
ion, than West Tennessee. There can be no doubt 
but the country east of the Kio Grande would sus- 
tain a population of ten millions of souls. My opin- 
ion is, that Texas will, by her members in convention, 
on the first of April, declare all that country as Texas 
proper, and form a State Constitution. I expect to 
be present at the convention, and will apprise you of 
the course adopted so soon -as its members have taken 



18 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

a final action. It is probable I may make Texas my 
abiding place ; in adopting this course, I will never 
forget tlie country of my birth. 

From this point I will notify the commissioners of 
the Indians at Fort Gibson of my success, which will 
reach you through the War Department. 

I have with much pride and inexpressible satisfac- 
tion seen your messages and proclamation touching the 
nuUifiers of the South, and their " Peaceable reme- 
dies." God grant that you may save the Union ! It 
does seem to me that it is reserved for you, and you 
alone, to render millions so great a blessing. I hear 
all voices commend your course, even in Texas — • 
where is felt the liveliest interest for the preservation 
of the Republic. 

Permit me to tender you my sincere felicitations, 
and most earnest solicitude for your health and hap- 
ness — and your future glory, connected with the pro- 
sperity of the Union. 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

Sam Houston. 

Gen. Houston did make this rich^er and 'more heal- 
tJiy country than West Tennessee his ahiding plaos, 
and was chairman of the committee on the Constitu- 
tion in the convention which met at San Filipe on the 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 19 

first of April, 1833, but wlien lie said in Ms letter to 
President Jackson : 

" She has already beaten and expelled all the troops 
of Mexico from her soil, nor will she permit them to 
return "—he spoke of the past, which I will explain. 

In June, 1832, Wm. B. Travis, and P. C. Jack, with 
other Texans, were arrested and imprisoned by Col. 
Bradburn, the commanding officer of Anahuac. 

Bradburn was a tyrannical and an overbearing man, 
but Travis and Jack were popular, so their friends 
endeavored to release them. 

They came on Bradburn unexpectedly, and he 
promised to release them, but asked time, in order to 
prepare for defence. 

In the meantime, he prepared, mounted his cannon, 
and caused his assaulters to retire. 

They demanded cannon of the commander of Fort 
Yelasco, which he refused, and they took the cannon 
by force. 

The commander, Capt. John Austin, the Alcalde of 
the 2d department of Austin colony, in reply to an 
official letter of Col. Mexia, who came with a fleet of 
five vessels and 400 men to the mouth of the Brazos, 
in order to find out and punish the offenders — thus 
briefly gives this portion of the history of Texas : 

" We are farmers, and not soldiers ; therefore desire 
that the military commandants shall not interfere with 



20 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

US at all. Since 1830, we liave been pretty mucL. 
governed militarily, and in such a despotic manner tliat 
we were finally driven to arms, to resist within their 
limits the military subalterns of the General Govern- 
ment. We have not insulted the flag of our adopted 
country, as had been surmised from our first movements; 
but, on the contrary, we have sustained its true dignity, 
and attacked those who had outraged it, by using it as 
a pretext for their encroachments upon the constitution 
and sovereignty of the State of Coahuila and Texas, 
and as a cover for their baseness and personal crimes. 

" The commandant of Fort Velasco acted under the 
orders of the commandant of Anahuac, Col. Juan 
Davis Bradburn. An investigation of the conduct of 
that officer will inform you fully of the details of many 
despotic and arbitary acts. He was sustained by the 
commandant of Nacogdoches, Col. Piedras, and by that 
of Fort Velasco, Lieut.-Col. Ugartechea, and, conse- 
quently, we were comjpelled to oppose them all. 

" Therefore we attacked Fort Velasco on the 26th 
of last month, Tvdth one hundred and twelve farmers, 
hastily collected, without discipline, and badly armed ; 
and, after an obstinate and bloody engagement of 
eleven hours, it surrendered, on the terms expressed in 
the enclosed copy of the capitulation — every article of 
which has been strictly complied with on our part, be- 
sides furnishing the provisions needed for the troops." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 21 

Col. Mexia was received kindly by the Texans, and 
after professing himself satisfied with their explana- 
tions, returned with his fleet and the garrison of the 
dismantled fort at Velasco to Mexico, in order to aid 
Santa Anna in establishing the Plan of Vera Cruz. 

The odious Bradburn after being forced to release 
his prisoners, escaped from the fort at Anahuac and 
fled to New Orleans. 

Among the persons who took part in the release of 
Travis and Jack, were the venerable Edwin Waller, 
Wm. J. Russell, Frank W. Johnson, Judge Munson, 
Andrew Mills, Wm. H. Wharton, Henry Brown, the 
father of John Plenry Brown, and T. Bennett. 

The capture of Velasco took place on the 26th June, 
and was followed by that of Nacogdoches on the 2d 
August, 1832, which Kennedy thus describes: 

Piedras, the commandant at Nacogdoches, declined 
Mexia's invitation to join the "Liberating Army" in 
Mexico, which afforded the inhabitants of that place a 
pretext for expelling him. Declaring in favor of the 
Vera Cruz Plan, the Nacogdoches settlers attacked the 
garrison in their '"'' quartelj'' and after protracted 
skirmishing, in which three Texans were killed and 
seven wounded, and eighteen Mexicans killed and 
twenty- two wounded, the latter evacuated their quar- 
ters during the night and retreated towards the river 
Angelina. Pursued by a party of mounted men, who 



22 HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

killed two of their number and wounded several, their 
leader, Piedi'as, proposed a temporary cessation of hos- 
tilities ; as it was late in the evening, he was -allowed 
to occupy the house of an Anglo- American without 
molestation from the Texans. The next morning, the 
Mexicans, terrified by a deceptive report of the ap- 
proach of a large hostile force, surrendered at discre- 
tion, and, after being disarmed, were permitted to 
continue their route to San Antonio de Bexar. Other 
garrisons withdrew into the interior about the same 
time. The citizens of Bexar and the governor of the 
State openly declared for the Plan of Vera Cruz ; po- 
litical unanimity generally prevailed, and in August, 
1832, Texas was free from military domination and 
internal strife. 



CHAPTER II 

The Convention of 1833, its members and action.— The Constitution and 
Memorial prepared by it.— Austin takes the Constitution and Memorial 
of the Convention of 1833 to Mexico.— His Arrest and Imprisonment.— 
Col. Almonte sent to Texas.— His Report on Texas. 

rn HE convention of 1833, at San Filipe, was com- 
-^ posed of tlie representative men of Texas, and 
its action will ever command the respect of all true 
lovers of liberty and self-government. 

Yoakum says of it : 

A body of more distinguished men had not met 
in Texas. Among them were Branch T. Archer, 
Stephen F. Austin, David G. Burnet, Sam Houston 
(one of the five delegates from Nacogdoches), X B. Mil- 
ler, and "William H. Wharton. The latter was chosen 
President of the convention. The members entered up- 
on their labors in earnest. The requisite committees 
were appointed : among them were the important com- 
mittees on the constitution and on a memorial to the 
supreme government of Mexico. Sam Houston was 
appointed chairman of the first, and David G. Burnet 
of the second named committee. The constitution 
framed was a model of republicanism, with now and 
then an indication, however, that some clauses were 



24 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

inserted and some principles retained to please .the 
Mexican ear. The right of trial by jury, the writ of 
habeas corpus, the right of petition, freedom of the 
press, direct and universal suffrage, and all those 
clauses usual in a bill of rights, were inserted. On the 
subject of religious liberty, however, they were silent. 
The memorial throws so much light on the situation 
of Texas in 1833, explains so clearly the causes which 
led to the revolution, and is itself such a rare and ex- 
cellent document, that it is here inserted : 



"■) 



'^ Texan Memokial.'* 

Memorial of the Texan Convention of April, 1833, to 
the General Congress of the United Memican States. 

The inhabitants of Texas, by their representatives 
elect in convention assembled, would respectfully ap- 
proach the national Congress, and present this their 
memorial, praying that the union which was estab- 
lished between Coahuila and Texas, whereby the two 
ancient provinces were incorporated into one free and 
independent state, under the name of "Coahuila ain^d 
Texas," may be dissolved, abrogated, and perpetually 
cease; and that the inhabitants of Texas may be 
authorized to institute and establish a separate state 
government, which will be in accordance with the 
federal constitution and the constitutive act ; and that 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 25 

tlie state so constituted shall be received and incorpo- 
rated into the great confederation of Mexico, on terms 
of equality with the other states of the Union. 

To explain the grounds of this application, your me- 
morialists would respectfully invite the attention of the 
general Congress to the following considerations : — 

The consolidation of the late provinces of Coahuila 
and Texas was, in its nature, provisional, and, in its 
intention, temporary. The decree of the sovereign con- 
stituent Congress, bearing date the 7th of May, 1824, 
contemplates a separation, and guarantees to Texas the 
right of ha^^ng a state government whenever she may 
be in a condition to ask for the same. That decree 
provides that, " so soon as Texas shall be in a condition 
to figure as a state of itself, it shall inform Congress 
thereof, for its resolution." The implication conveyed 
by this clause is plain and imperative ; and vests in 
Texas as perfect a right as language can convey, unless 
it can be presumed that the sovereign constituent Con- 
gress, composed of the venerable fathers of the repub- 
lic, designed to amuse the good people of Texas by an 
illusory and disingenuous promise, clothed in all the 
solemnity of a legislative enactment. Your memorial- 
ists have too high a veneration for the memory of that 
illustrious body to entertain any apprehensions that 
such a construction will be given to their acts by their 

patriotic successors, the present Congress of Mexico. 
2 



26 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The decree is dated anterior to the adoption of the 
federal constitution, and therefore, by a clear and funda- 
mental principle of law and justice, it obviates the neces- 
sity of recurring to the correspondent provision in the 
fiftieth article of that instrument, which requires "the 
ratification of three-fourths of the other states" in 
order " to form a new state out of the limits of those 
that already exist." And it assures to Texas — by all 
the sanctity of a legislative promise, in which the good 
faith of the Mexican nation is pledged — an exemption 
from the delays and uncertainties that must result 
from such multiplied legislative discussion and resolu- 
tion. To give to the federal constitution, which is the 
paramount law of the land, a retrospective operation, 
would establish a precedent that might prove disas- 
trous to the whole system of the nation's jurisprudence, 
and subversive of the very foundations of the govern- 
ment. 

The authority of precedents is decidedly in favor of 
the position which your memorialists would respect- 
fully sustain before the general Congress. By the 
Constitutive Act, adopted on the 31st of January, 1824, 
Coahuila, New Leon, and Texas were joined together, 
and denominated the inteenal easteeis" state. By a 
law passed by the constituent Congress on the 7th of 
May, 1824, that union was dissolved, and the province 
of New Leon was admitted into the confederacy as an 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 27 

independent state. It is on the second article of this 
law that the people of Texas now predicate their right 
to a similar admission. The constitutive act, above 
mentioned, consolidated the late provinces of Chihna- 
hna, Diirango, and New Mexico, under tlie style of 
" the internal northern state;" and on the 22d of May, 
1824, a summary law decreed that "Durango should 
form a state of the Mexican Confederation," and she 
was admitted accordingly. The same privilege was 
extended to Chihuahua by a decree of the 6th of July 
of the same year. These conjunct provinces stood, at 
the period of their separation, in precisely the same 
relation to the federal government that Texas and 
Coahuila now occupy. They have been separated and 
erected into free and independent states in a summary 
manner ; and the same right was guaranteed " when- 
ever she should be in a condition to accept it." The 
other case, of Sonora and Sinaloa, is materially variant 
in matter of fact. Those provinces were originally in- 
corporated into the confederation as one state, with- 
out any antecedent condition or guarantee ; and, at the 
adoption of the present constitution, they justly be- 
came liable to all the forms and restrictions prescribed 
in that national pact. 

We would further suggest to the honorable Con- 
gress that the present juncture is peculiarly felicitous 
for dispensing with interminable and vexatious forms. 



28 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The federal government is wisely employed in adopt- 
ing important organic improvements, and aiming at a 
salutary renovation of the political system. The dis- 
asters of an eventful civil convulsion are yielding to 
the reffeneratiuff influences of domestic concord and 
improved experience; and every department of the 
confederacy is open to such needful modifications as 
the wisdom of the renewed Congress may designate. 
Texas solicits, as her portion in the general reforma- 
tion, to be disenthralled from her unhappy connec- 
tion with Coahuila; and she avails herself of this 
opportunity, by means of her chosen delegates, who 
are the authorized organs of the people, to commu- 
nicate "to the general Congress" that she is now 
"in a situation to figure as a state by herself ," „and is 
profoundly solicitous that she may be permitted to 
do so. 

The general Congress may possibly consider the 
mode of this communication as informal. To this sug- 
gestion we would, with great deference, reply, that the 
events of the past year have not only violated the 
established forms and etiquette of the government, but 
have suspended, at least, its vital functions; and it 
would appear exceedingly rigorous to exact from the 
inhabitants of Texas, living on a remote frontier of 
the republic, a minute conformity to unimportant 
punctilios. The ardent desire of the people is made 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 29 

known to tlie Congress throngli tlieir select representa- 
tives, tlie most direct and unequivocal medium by 
wliicli they can possibly be conveyed ; and surely the 
enlightened Congress v^ill readily concur v^ith us in 
the sentiment that the wishes and wants of the people 
form the best rule for legislative guidance. The peo- 
ple of Texas consider it not only an absolute right, 
but a most sacred and imperative duty to themselves, 
and to the Mexican nation, to represent their wants in 
a respectful manner to the general government, and to 
solicit the best remedy of which the nature of their 
grievances will admit. Should they utterly fail in this 
duty, and great and irremediable evils ensue, the peo- 
ple would have reason to reproach themselves alone ; 
and the general Congress, in whom the remedial power 
resides, would also have reason to censure their supine- 
ness and want of fidelity to the nation. Under this 
view, we trust the Congress will not regard with ex- 
cessive severity any slight departure which the good 
people of Texas may in this instance have made from. 
the ordinary formalities of the government. 

And we would further suggest to the equitable con- 
sideration of the federal Congress that, independent 
of and anterior to the express gua,rantee contained in 
the decree of the 'Tth of May, 1824, the right of hav- 
ing a separate state government was vested in and be- 
longed to Texas, by the fact that she participated as 



30 EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

a distinct province in tlie toils and sufferings by 
wMcli tlie glorious emancipation of Mexico was 
achieved, and tlie present happy form of government 
was established. The subsequent union with Coa- 
huila was a temporary compact, induced by a sup- 
posed expediency, arising from an inadequate popula- 
tion on the part of Texas " to figure as a state of itself." 
This inducement was transient in its nature ; and the 
compact, like all similar agreements, is subject to ab- 
rogation, at the will of either party, whenever the de- 
sign of its creation is accomplished, or is ascertained 
to be impracticable. The obvious design of the union 
between Coahuila and Texas was, on the one part, at 
least, the more effectually to secure the peace, safety 
and happiness of Texas. That design has not been 
accomplished, and facts piled upon facts afford a mel- 
ancholy evidence that it is utterly impracticable. Tex- 
as never has and never can derive from the connection 
benefits in any wise commensurate with the evils she 
has sustained, and which are daily increasing in num- 
ber and in magnitude. 

But our reasons for the proposed separation are 
more explicitly set forth in the subjoined remarks. 

The history of Texas, from its earliest settlement to 
the present time, exhibits a series of practical neglect 
and indifference to all her peculiar interests on the 
part of each successive government which has had the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 31 

control of her political destinies. The recollection of 
these ^things is calculated to excite the most pungent 
regrets for the past, and the most painful forebodings 
for the future. Under the several regal dominions, 
Texas presented the gloomy spectacle of a province 
profusely endowed by nature, abandoned and con- 
signed to desolation by the profligate avariciousness of 
a distant despot. The tyrants of Spain regarded her 
only as a convenient barrier to the mines of the adja- 
cent provinces; and the more waste and depopulated 
she was, the more effectually she answered their self- 
ish and unprincipled purpose. Her agricultural 
resources were either unknown, or esteemed of no value 
to a government anxious onty to sustain its wasting 
magnificence by the silver and gold wi'ung from the 
prolific bosom of Mexico. To foster the agricultural 
interests of any portion of her splendid viceroyalty, 
or her circumjacent conquests, was never the favorite 
policy of Spain. To have done so, would have nur- 
tured in her remote dominions a hardy and industri- 
ous population of yeomanry, who have ever proved 
the peculiar dread of tyrants, and the best assurance 
of a nation's independence. 

It was natural, then, that the royal miscreants of 
Spain should regard Texas with indifference, if not 
with a decided and malignant aversion to her im- 
provement. But it would be both unnatural and 



32 HIST OUT OF TEXAS. 

erroneous to attribute similar motives to the paternal 
government of independent, confederate, republican 
Mexico. She can have no interest averse to the com- 
mon weal ; can feel no desire to depress the agricul- 
tural faculties of any jDortion of her common terri- 
tory; and can entertain no disquieting jealousies that 
should prompt her to dread the increase or to mar 
the prosperity of any portion of her agricultural 
population. These are the best, the broadest, and the 
most durable bases of her free institutiqns. 

We must look to other causes, therefore, for the 
lamentable negligence that has hitherto been mani- 
fested toward the prosperity of Texas. The fact of 
such negligence is beyond controversy. The melan- 
choly effects of it are apparent in both her past and 
present condition. The cause must exist somewhere. 
We believe it is principally to be found in her politi- 
cal annexation to Coahuila. That conjunction was, in 
its origin, unnatural and constrained ; and the longer 
it is Continued, the more disastrous it will prove. The 
two territories are disjunct in all their prominent re- 
spective relations. In point of locality, they approxi- 
mate only by a strip of sterile and useless territory, 
which must long remain a comparative wilderness, 
and present many serious embarrassments to that 
facility of intercourse which should always exist 
between the seat of government and its remote popu- 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 33 

lation. In respect to commerce and its various intri- 
cate relations, there is no community of interests 
between them. The one is altogether interior; is 
consequently abstracted from all participation in 
maritime concerns; and is naturally indifferent, if not 
adverse, to any system of polity that is calculated to 
promote the diversified and momentous interests of 
commerce. The other is blest with many natural 
advantages for extensive commercial operations, 
which, if properly cultivated, would render many 
valuable accessions to the national marine, and a large 
increase to the national ]'evenues. The importance 
of an efficient national marine is evinced, not only by 
the history of other and older governments, but by the 
rich halo of glory which encircles the brief annals of 
the Mexican navy. In point of climate and of natural 
productions, the two territories are equally dissimi- 
lar. Coahuila is a pastoral and a mining country: 
Texas is characteristically an agricultural district. 
The occupations incident to these various intrinsic 
properties are equally various and distinct ; and a 
course of legislation that may be adapted to the en- 
couragement of the habitual industry of the one 
district might present only embarrassment and per- 
plexity, and prove fatally deleterious to the prosperity 
of the other. 

It is not needful, therefore — neither do we desire 
2* 



34 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

— to attribute any sinister or invidious design to the 
leafislative enactments or to the domestic economical 
policy of Coahuila (whose ascendancy in the joint 
councils of the state gives her an uncontrolled and 
exclusive power of legislation), in order to ascertain 
the origin of the evils that affect Texas, and which, if 
permitted to exist, must protract her feeble and de- 
pendent pupilage to a period coeval with such exist- 
ence. Neither is it important to Texas whether those 
evils have proceeded from a sinister policy in the pre- 
dominant influences of Coahuila, or whether they are 
the natural results of a union that is naturally ad- 
verse to her interests. The effects are equally re- 
pugnant and injurious, whether emanating from the 
one or the other source. 

Bexar, the ancient capital of Texas, presents a 
faithful but a gloomy picture of her general w^ant of 
protection and encouragement. Situated in a fertile, 
picturesque, and healthful region, and established a 
century and a half ago (within which period popu- 
lous and magnificent cities have sprung into existence), 
she exhibits only the decrepitude of age — sad testi- 
monials of the absence of that political guardianship 
which a wise government should always bestow upon 
the feebleness of its exposed frontier settlements. A 
hundred and seventeen years have elapsed since Go- 
liad and Nacogdoches assumed the distinctive name 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 35 

of towns, and they are still entitled only to tlie 
diminutive appellation of villages. Other military 
and missionary establishments have been attempted, 
but, from the same defect of protection and encour- 
agement, they have been swept away, and scarcel}'' a 
vestige remains to rescue their locations from oblivion. 
We do not mean to attribute these specific disasters 
to the union with Coahuila, for we know they trans- 
pired long anterior to the consummation of that 
union. But we do maintain that the same political 
causes, the same want of protection and encourage- 
ment, the same mal-organization and impotency of 
the local and minor faculties of the government, the 
same improvident indiiference to the peculiar and 
vital interests of Texas, exist noio that operated then. 
Bexar is still exposed to the depredations of her 
ancient enemies, the insolent, vindictive, and faith- 
less Comanches. Her citizens are still massacred, 
their cattle destroyed or driven away, and their very 
habitations threatened, by a tribe of erratic and 
undisciplined Indians, whose audacity has derived 
confidence from success, and whose long-continued 
aggressions have invested them with a fictitious and 
excessive terror. Her schools are neglected, her 
churches desolate, the sounds of human industry 
are almost hushed, and the voice of gladness and 
festivity is converted into wailing and lamentaiiois. 



36 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

hj tlie disheartening and multiplied evils whicli sur- 
round lier defenceless population. Goliad is still 
kept in constant trepidation ; is paralyzed in all lier 
efforts for improvement ; and is harassed on all lier 
borders by the predatory incursions of the'Wacoes, 
and other insignificant bands of savages, v^hom a 
well-organized local government would soon subdue 
and exterminate. 

These are facts, not of history merely, on which 
the imagination must dwell with an unwilling melan- 
choly, but they are events of the present day, which 
the present generation feel in all their dreadful 
reality. And these facts, revolting as they are, are 
as a fraction only in the stupendous aggregate of our 
calamities. Our misfortunes do not proceed from 
Indian depredations alone; neither are they confined 
to a few isolated, impoverished, and almost tenantless 
towns. They pervade the whole territory — operate 
upon the whole population — and are as diversified 
in character as our public interests and necessities are 
various. Texas at large feels and deplores an utter 
destitution of the common benefits which have usually 
accrued from the worst system of internal govern- 
ment that the patience of mankind ever tolerated. 
She is virtually without a government ; and if she is 
not precipitated into all the unspeakable horrors of 
anarchy, it is only because there is a redeeming spirit 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 37 

among the people, wliicli still infuses some moral 
energy into tlie miserable fragments of authority that 
exist among us. We are perfectly sensible that a 
large portion of our population, usually denominated 
" the colonists," and composed of Anglo-Americans, 
have been greatly calumniated before the Mexican 
government. But could the honorable Congress 
scrutinize strictly into our real condition — could they 
see and understand the wi'etched confusion, in all the 
elements of government, which we daily feel and de- 
plore — our ears would no longer be insulted, nor our 
feelings mortified, by the artful fictions of hireling 
emissaries from abroad, nor by the malignant asper- 
sions of disappointed military commandants at home. 
Our grievances do not so much result from any 
positive misfeasance on the part of the present state 
authorities, as from the total absence, or the very 
feeble and mutile dispensation, of those restrictive 
influences which it is the appropriate design of the 
social comp>act to exercise upon the people, and which 
are necessary to fulfil the ends of civil society. We 
complain more of the toant of all the important at- 
tributes of government, than of the abuses of any. 
We are sensible that all humau institutions are es- 
sentially imperfect. But there are relative degrees 
of perfection in modes of government as in other 
matters, and it is both natural and right to aspire to 



38 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

that mode whicli is most likely to accomplish its 
legitimate purpose. This is wisely declared in our 
present state constitution, to be "the happiness of 
those who compose it." It is equally obvious that 
the happiness of the people is more likely to be 
secured by a local than by a remote government. 
In the one case, the governors are partakers, in com- 
mon with the governed, in all the political evils 
which result to the community, and have therefore a 
personal interest in so discharging their respective 
functions as will best secure the common welfare. 
In the other supposition, those vested with authority 
are measurably exempt from the calamities that 
ensue an abuse of power, and may very conveniently 
subserve their own interests and ambition, while they 
neglect or destroy " the welfare of the associated." 

But, independent of these general truths, there are 
some impressive reasons why the peace and happiness 
of Texas demand a local government. Constituting 
a remote frontier of the republic, and bordering on 
a powerful nation, a portion of whose population, in 
juxtaposition to hers, is notoriously profligate and 
lawless, she requires, in a peculiar and emphatic 
sense, the vigorous application of such laws as are 
necessary, not only to the preservation of good order, 
the protection of property, and the redress of per- 
sonal wrongs, but such also as are essential to the 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 39 

prevention of illicit commerce, to tlie security of tlie 
public revenues, and to the avoidance of serious 
collision with the authorities of the neighboring 
republic. That such a judicial administration is im- 
practicable under the present arrangement, is too 
forcibly illustrated by the past to admit of any 
rational hope for the future. 

It is an acknowledged principle in the science of 
jurisprudence, that the prompt and certain infliction 
of mild and humane punishment is more efficacious 
for the prevention of crime than a tardy and precari- 
ous administration of the most sanguinary penal code. 
Texas is virtually denied the benefit of this benevolent 
rule by the locality and the character of her present 
government. Crimes of the greatest atrocity may go 
unpunished, and hardened criminals triumph in their 
iniquity, because of the difficulties and delays which 
encumber' her judicial system, and necessarily inter- 
vene a trial and conviction, and the sentence and the 
execution of the law. Our "supreme tribunal of 
justice " holds its sessions upward of seven hundred 
miles distant from our central population ; and that 
distance is greatly enlarged, and sometimes made im- 
passable, by the casualties incident to a " mail " con- 
ducted by a single horseman through a wilderness 
often infested by vagrant and murderous Indians. 
Eef ore sentence can be pronounced by the local courts 



40 HIBTOBT OF TEXAS. 

on persons cliarged witli the most atrocious crimes, a 
copy of the process mnst be transmitted to an asses- 
sor, resident at Leona Vicario (Saltillo), who is too 
far removed from the scene of guilt to appreciate the 
importance of a speedy decision, and is too much 
estranged from our civil and domestic concerns to 
feel the miseries that result from a total want of le^al 
protection in person and property. But our difficul- 
ties do not terminate here. After the assessor shall 
have found leisure to render his opinion, and final 
judgment is pronounced, it again becomes necessaiy 
to resort to the capital to submit the tardy sentence 
to the supreme tribunal for " approbation, revocation, 
or modification," before the judgment of the law can 
be executed. Here we have again to encounter the 
vexations and delays incident to all governments 
where those who exercise its most interesting func- 
tions are removed by distance from the people on 
whom they operate, and for whose benefit the social 
compact is created. 

These repeated delays, resulting from the remote- 
ness of our courts of judicature, are pernicious in 
many respects. They involve heavy expenses, which, 
in civil suits, are excessively onerous to litigants, and 
give to the rich and influential such manifold advan- 
tages over the poor as operate to an absolute exclusion 
of the latter from the remedial and protective bene- 



EISTOMY OF TEXAS. 41 

fits of the law. They offer seductive opportunities 
and incitements to bribery and corruption, and en- 
danger tlie sacred purity of tlie judiciary, wMcli, of 
all the branches of the government, is most intimate- 
ly associated with the domestic and social happiness 
of man, and should therefore be not only sound and 
pure, but unsuspected of the venal infection. They 
present insuperable difficulties to the exercise of the 
corrective right of recusation, and virtually nullify 
the constitutional power of impeachment. In crimi- 
nal actions they are no less injurious. They are 
equivalent to a license to iniquity, and exert a danger- 
ous influence on the moral feelings at large. Before 
the tedious process of the law can be complied with, 
and the criminal — whose hands are perhaps imbrued 
in a brother's blood — be made to feel its retributive 
justice, the remembrance of his crime is partially 
effaced from the public mind; and the righteous 
arbitrament of the law, which, if promptly executed, 
would have received universal apj^robation, and been 
a salutary warning to evil-doers, is impugned as vin- 
dictive and cruel. The popular feeling is changed 
from a just indignation of crime, into an amiable but 
mistaken sympathy for the criminal ; and an easy and 
natural transition is converted into disgust and disaf- 
fection toward the government and its laws. 

These are some of the evils that result from the 



42 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

annexation of Texas to Coalmila, and tlie exercise of 
legislative and judicial powers by the citizens of 
Coaiiiiila over the citizens of Texas. The catalogue 
might be greatly enlarged, but we forbear to trespass 
on the time of the honorable Congress (confiding to 
the worthy citizens who shall be charged with the 
high duty of presenting this memorial and the proto- 
col of a constitution which the people of Texas have 
framed, as the basis of their future government, the 
more explicit enunciation of them). Those evils are 
not likely to be diminished, but they may be exceed- 
ingly aggravated by the fact that that political con- 
nection was formed without the cordial approbation 
of the people of Texas, and is daily becoming more 
odious to them. Although it may have received their 
reluctant acquiescence, in its inception, before its 
evil consequences were developed or foreseen, the 
arbitrary continuance of it now, after the experience 
of nine years has demonstrated its ruinous tendencies, 
would invest it with some of the most offensive 
features of usurpation. Your memorialists entertain 
an assured confidence that the enlightened Congress 
of Mexico will never give their high sanction to any- 
thing that wears the semblance of usurpation or of 
arbitrary coercion. 

The idea may possibly occur, in the deliberations 
of the honoi'able Congress, that a territorial organiza- 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 43 

tion would cure our political maladies, and effectuate 
the great purposes wliicli induce this application ; and 
plausible reasons may be advanced in favor of it. 
But the wisdom of Congress will readily detect the 
fallacy of these reasons, and the mischief consequent to 
such vain sophistry. In this remote section of the re- 
public, a territorial government must, of necessity, be 
divested of one essential and radical principle in all 
popular institutions — the immediate responsibility of 
public agents to the people whom they serve. The 
appointments to office would, in such case, be vested in 
the general government ; and although such appoint- 
ments should be made with the utmost circumspection, 
the persons appointed, when once arrayed in the ha- 
biliments of office, would be too far removed from the 
appointing power to feel the restraints of a vigilant 
supervision and a direct accountability. The dearest 
rights of the people might be violated, the public 
treasures squandered, and every variety of imposition 
and iniquity practised, under the specious pretext of 
political necessity, which the far-distant government 
could neither detect nor control. 

And we would further present, with great deference, 
that the institution of a territoi'ial government would 
confer upon us neither the form nor the substance of 
our high guarantee. It would, indeed, diversify our 
miseries, by opening new avenues to peculation and 



44 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

abuse of power ; but it would neither remove our dijSi- 
culties nor place us in the enjoyment of our equal and 
vested rights. The only and adequate remedy that your 
memorialists can devise, and which they ardently hope 
the collective wisdom of the nation will approve, is to 
be found in the establishment of a local state govern- 
ment. We believe that if Texas were endowed with 
the faculties of a state government, she would be com- 
petent to remedy the many evils that now depress her 
energies, and frustrate every effort to develop and 
bring into usefulness the natural resources which a 
beneficent Providence has conferred upon her. We 
believe that a local legislature, composed of citizens 
who feel and participate in all the calamities which 
encompass us, would be enabled to enact such conser- 
vative, remedial, and punitive laws, and so to organize 
and put into operation the municipal and inferior 
authorities of the country, as would inspire universal 
confidence ; v\^ould encourage the immigration of vir- 
tuous foreigners — prevent the ingress of fugitives from 
the justice of other countries — check the alarming ac- 
cumulations of ferocious Indians, whom the domestic 
policy of the United States of the North is rapidly 
translating to our borders; would give impulse and 
vigor to the industry of the people — secure a cheerful 
subordination and a faithful adhesion to the state and 
general governments ; and would render Texas what 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 45 

slie ought to be — a strong arm of tlie republic, a terror 
to foreign invaders, and an example of peace and 
prosperity — of advancement in the arts and sciences, 
and of devotion to tlie Union — to her sister states. 
We believe that an executive chosen from among our- 
selves vrould feel a more intense interest in our politi- 
cal welfare, would watch with more vigilance over our 
social concerns, and would contribute more effectually 
to the purposes of his appointment. We believe that 
a local judiciaiy, drawn from the bosom of our own 
peculiar society, would be enabled to administer the 
laws with more energy and promptitude — to punish 
the disobedient and refractory — to restrain the vicious- 
ness of the wicked — to impart confidence and security 
of both person and property to peaceable citizens — to 
conserve and perpetuate the general tranquillity of the 
state — and to render a more efficient aid to the co-ordi- 
nate powers of the government in carrying into effect 
the great objects of its institution. We believe that, 
if Texas were admitted to the Union as a separate 
state, she would soon "figure" as a brilliant star in 
the Mexican constellation, and would shed a new 
splendor around the illustrious city of Montezuma. 
We believe she would contribute largely to the na- 
tional wealth and aggandizement — would furnish new 
staples for commerce, and new materials for manufac- 
tures. The cotton of Texas would give employment 



46 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

to the artisans of Mexico; and the precious metals, 
which are now flowing into the coffers of England, 
would be retained at home, to reward the industry 
and remunerate the ingenuity of native citizens. 

The honorable Congress need not be informed that 
a large portion of the population of Texas is of foreign 
origin. They have been invited here by the munifi- 
cent liberality and plighted faith of the Mexican go- 
vernment ; and they stand pledged, by every moral and 
religious principle, and by every sentiment of honor, 
to requite that liberality, and to reciprocate the faith- 
ful performance of the guarantee to "protect their 
liberties, property, and civil rights," by a cheerful de- 
dication of their moral and physical energies to the ad- 
vancement of their adopted country. But it is also appa- 
rent to the intelligence of the honorable Congress that 
the best mode of securing the -permanent attachment 
of such a population is, to incorporate them into the 
federal system, on such equitable terms as will redress 
every grievance, remove every cause of complaint, and 
insure, not only an identity of interests, but an eventual 
blending and assimilation of all that is now foreign 
and incongruous. The infancy of imperial Rome was 
carried to an early adolescence by the free and unre- 
stricted admission of foreigners to her social compact. 
England never aspired to "the dominion of the seas" 
until she had united the hardiness of Scotland and the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 47 

gallantry of Ireland to Ixer native prowess. France 
derives her greatness from the early combination of 
the Salii, the Frank, and the Burgundian. And Mex- 
ico may yet realize the period when the descendants 
of Montezuma will rejoice that their coalition with 
the descendants of Fernando Cortez has been strength- 
ened and embellished by the adoption into their nation- 
al family of a people drawn by their own gratuitous 
hospitality from the land of Washington and of free- 
dom. 

For these and other considerations, your memorial- 
ists would solemnly invoke the magnanimous spirit of 
the Mexican nation, concentrated in the wisdom and 
patriotism of the federal Congress. And they would 
respectfully and ardently pray that the honorable 
Congress would extend their remedial power to this 
obscure section of the republic ; would cast around it 
" the sovereign mantle of the nation," and adopt it 
into a free and plenary participation of that " consti- 
tutional regime'''' of equal. sisterhood which alone can 
rescue it from the miseries of an ill-organized, ineffi- 
cient, internal government, and can reclaim this fair 
and fertile region from the worthlessness of an unten- 
anted waste, or the more fearful horrors of barbaiian 
inundation. 

Your memorialists, on behalf of their constituents, 
would, in conclusion, avail themselves of this oppor- 



48 HISTORY OF TEXAS. . 

tunity to tender to the honorable Congress their cor- 
dial adhesion to \h.Q plan of Zavaleta ; and to express 
their felicitations on the happy issue of the late un- 
happy conflict. They would also declare their grati- 
tude to the patriot-chief and his illustrious associates 
whose propitious conquests have saved from profana- 
tion " the august temple in which we have deposited 
the holy ark of our federal constitution," and have 
secured the ultimate triumph of the liberal and en- 
lightened principles of genuine republicanism. And 
they would unite their fervent aspirations with the 
prayers that must ascend from the hearts of all good 
Mexicans, that the Supreme E,uler of the universe, 
who " doeth his will in the army of heaven, and among 
the inhabitants of the earth," vfould vouchsafe to this 
glorious land the blessings of peace and tranquillity ; 
would preserve it, in all future time, from the horrors 
of civil discord ; and would shed down upon its ex- 
tended population the increased and increasing efful- 
gence of light and liberty v/hich is fast irradiating the 
European continent, and extirpating the relics of 
feudal despotism of the antiquated errors of a barbar- 
ous age fi'om the civilized world. 

David G. Buenet, 
Chairman of the Committee. 



HISTOHY OF TEXAS. 49 

But a feeling of distrust or jealousy of their Texan 
colonists seems at tHs time to have swayed the 
councils of Mexico, for when Stephen F. Austin pre- 
sented this constitution and memorial to that govern- 
ment, then centralized under the entii*e control of 
Santa Anna, he was arrested and kept in Mexico, till 
September, 1835. 

To the eloquent appeals of the memorial, the Mexi- 
can authorities, in imitation of the conduct of Great 
Britain just before the memorable contest for Inde- 
pendence, when petitions from her American colo- 
nists were presented — turned a deaf ear. 

In the spring of 1834, while Stephen Austin was 
languishing in a Mexican prison. Colonel Joan Al- 
monte was commissioned by the Supreme Government 
to visit Texas, and report his observations to the 
Executive, which are so pertinent that the following 
extracts are here inserted : 

" This report," he observes, " although imperfect, 
will afford some idea of ivliat Texas is^ and what it 
was. 

" What it will be, it is not difficult to anticipate. 

If we consider the extraordinary and rapid advances 

that industry has made ; its advantageous geographical 

position, its harbors, the easy navigation of its 

rivers, the variety of its productions, the fertility of 

the soil, the climate, etc., — the conclusion is, that 
3 



50 HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

Texas must soon be tlie most flourishing section of 
the Republic. There is no difficulty in explaining 
the reason of this prosperity. In Texas, with the 
exception of some disturbers {con eeepcion de algunos 
revoltosos), they only think of growing the sugar- 
cane, cotton, maize, wheat, tobacco ; the breeding of 
cattle, opening of roads, and rendering the rivers 
navigable. Moreover, the effects of our political 
commotions are not felt there, and often it is only 
by mere chance our dissensions are known. Situated 
as Texas is, some 450 leagues from the capital of the 
Federation, it is easy to conceive the rapidity of its 
progress in population and industry, for the reason 
that Texas is out of the reach of the civil wars that 
have unfortunately come upon us. The inhabitants 
of that country continue, without interruption, to 
devote themselves to industrious occupations, giving 
value to the lands with which they have been favored 
by the munificence of the Grovernment. 

" If, then, the position of Texas is so advantageous, 
why should not the Mexicans participate in its bene- 
fits? Are not they the owners of those valuable 
lands ? Are they not capable of encountering dan- 
gers with firmness and courage ? Let small companies 
be formed; enter into contracts with agricultural 
laborers ; appoint to each of the companies its over- 
seer, agent, or colonial director ; and I will be the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 51 

surety tliat, in less than one or two years, by the 
concession of eleven-league grants of land, which will 
not cost perhaps more than a trifle for the stamped 
paper on which the title is made out, the grants will 
be converted into a property worth more than from 
fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. Let those who 
wish to test the worth of this assurance visit the 
plantations of the colonists, and they will perceive 
I am no dreamer." 

" If, as is possible," he proceeds to say, " I return 
to Texas as colonial director, I shall have great 
pleasure in affording to purchasers of land and Mex- 
can Empresarios all the' information in my power for 
the better colonization of the country. I do not 
hesitate particularly to assure retired officers and 
invalids, that the best way to provide for their families 
is to solicit permission of the Government to capital- 
ize their pay, and go and colonize Texas. There 
they will find peace and industry, and obtain rest in 
their old age, which, in all probability, will not be 
found in the centre of the Republic." 

The report opens with a general notice of Texas, 
and then enters upon separate statistical details re- 
specting the three departments — Bexar, the Brazos, 
and Nacogdoches. My object being to adduce the 
Commissioner's authority as Mexican evidence to 
fact, I shall refer to his testimony in the order of his 



52 EISTOMY OF TEXAS. 

own arrangement. The investigation commenced in 
the spring, and terminated in the autumn of 1834. 

"The population of Texas," states the report, 
" extends from Bexar to the Sabine River, and in 
that direction there are not more than 25 leagues of 
unoccupied territory to occasion some inconvenience 
to the traveller. The most difficult part of the jour- 
ney to Texas is the space between the E.io Grande 
and Bexar, which extends a little more than 50 
leagues by what is called the Upper Road, and 
above 65 leagues by the way of Loredo. These dif- 
ficulties do not arise from the badness of the road 
itself, but from the absence of population, rendering 
it necessary to carry provisions and even water 
during summer, when it is scarce in this district. 
This tract is so flat and rich in pasturage that it 
may be travelled with sufficient relays, and at a 
suitable speed, without the fear of wanting forage. 

" In 1806 the department of Bexar contained two 
municipalities : San Antonio de Bexar, with a popu- 
lation of 5,000 souls, and Goliad, with 1,400 ; total, 
6,400. In 1834 there were four municipalities, 
with the following population respectively : — San 
Antonio de Bexar, 2,400; Goliad, 700; Victoria, 
300; San Patricio, 600; total 4,000. Deducting 
600 for the municipality of San Patricio (an Irish 
settlement), the Mexican population had declined 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 53 

from 6,400 to 3,400 between 1806 and 1834. This 
is the only district of Texas in which there are no 
negro laborers. Of the various colonies introduced 
into it, only two have prospered; one of Mexicans, on 
the river Guadalupe, by the road which leads from 
Goliad to San Felipe ; the other of Irish, on the river 
JSTueces, on the road from Matamoras to Goliad. 
With the exception of San Patricio, the entire dis- 
trict of Bexar is peopled by Mexicans. The greater 
/part of the lands of JBexar can easily he irrigated^ 
and there is no doubt that so soon as the Govern- 
ment, compassionating the lot of Texas, shall send a 
respectable force to chastise the savages, the Mex- 
icans will gladly hasten to colonize those valuable 
lands which court their labor. 

"Extensive undertakings cannot be entered on in 
Bexar, as there is no individual capital exceeding 
10,000 dollars. All the provisions raised by the in- 
habitants are consumed in the district. The wild 
horse is common, so as rarely to be valued at more 
than 20 rials (about 10 shillings British) when 
caught. Cattle are cheap ; a cow and a calf not 
being worth more than 10 dollars, and a young bull 
or heifer from 4 to 5 dollars. Sheep are scarce, not 
exceeding 5,000 head. The whole export trade is 
confined to from 8,000 to 10,000 skins of various 
kinds, and the imports to a few articles from New 



54 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Orleans, wliicli are exchanged in San Antonio for 
peltry or currency. 

" There is one school in the capital of the Depart- 
ment supported by the municipality, but apparently 
the funds are so reduced as to render the maintenance 
of even this useful establishment impossible. What 
is to be the fate of those unhappy Mexicans who 
dwell in the midst of savages without hope of civili- 
zation ? Goliad, Victoria, and even San Patricio, 
are similarly situated, and it is not difficult to foresee 
the consequences of such a state of things. In the 
whole department there is but one curate, the vicar 
died of cholera morbus in September last. 

" The capital of the Department of the Brazos is 
San Felipe de Austin, and its principal towns are the 
said San Felipe, Brazoria, Matagorda, Gonzalez, Har- 
risburg, Mina, and Yelasco. The district containing 
these towns is that which is generally called ' Aus- 
tin's Colony.' 

" The following are the municipalities and towns 
of the Department, with the population : San 
Felipe, 2,500; Columbia, 2,100; Matagorda, 1,400; 
Gonzalez, 900; Mina, 1,100; total, 8,000. Towns: 
Brazoria, Harrisburg, Yelasco, Bolivar. In the po- 
pulation are included 1,000 negroes, introduced under 
certain conditions guaranteed by the State Govern- 
ment (introducidos hajo ciertas condiciones^ garanti' 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 55 

zadaspor el gohierno del estado) ; and although it is 
true that a few African slaves have been imported 
into Texas, yet it has been done contrary to the 
opinion of the respectable settlers, who were unable 
to prevent it. It is to be hoped that this traffic has 
already been stopped ; and it is desirable that a law 
of the General Congress and of the State should fix 
a maximum period for the introduction of negroes 
into Texas, as servants to the empresarios, which 
period ought not, in my opinion, to exceed ten or 
twelve years, at the end of which time they should 
enjoy absolute liberty. 

" The most prosperous colonies of this Department 
are those of Austin and Dewitt. Towards the north- 
west of San Felipe there is now a new colony under 
the direction of Robertson ; the same that was for- 
merly under the charge of Austin. 

"In 1833, upwards of 2,000 bales of cotton, weigh- 
ing from 400 to 500 lbs. each, were exported from the 
Brazos; and it is said that in 1832 not less than 5,000 
bales were exported. The maize is all consumed in 
the country, though the annual crop exceeds 50,000 
barrels. The cattle, of which there may be about 
25,000 head in the district, are usually driven for 
sale to Natchitoches. The cotton is exported regu- 
larly from Brazoria to New Orleans, where it pays 
2^ per cent, duty, and realizes from 10 to 10^ cents 



56 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

per lb. for tlie exporter, after paying cost of trans- 
port, etc. The price of cattle varies but little 
tliroughout Texas, and is the same in the Brazos as 
in Bexar. There are no sheep in this district ; herds 
of swine are numerous, and may be reckoned at 
50,000 head. 

" The trade of the Department of the Brazos has 
reached 600,000 dollars. Taking the estimate for 
1832 (the settlements having been ravaged by the 
cholera in 1833), the exports and imports are esti- 
mated thus : 5,000 bales of cotton, weighing 2,250,- 
000 lbs., sold in New Orleans, and producing, at 10 
cents per lb., 225,000 dollars net; 50,000 skins, at an 
average of 8 rials each, 60,000 dollars. Value of 
exports, 275,000 dollars (exclusive of the sale of live 
stock). The imports are estimated at 325,000 dollars. 

" In this Department there is but one school, near 
Brazoria, erected by subscription, and containing 
from thirty to forty pupils. The wealthier colonists 
prefer sending their children to the United States ; 
and those who have not the advantages of fortune 
care little for the education of their sons, provided 
they can wield the axe and cut down a tree, or kill a 
deer with dexterity. 

"The Department of Nacogdoches contains four 
municipalities and four towns. Nacogdoches munici- 
pality has a population of 3,500; that of San Au- 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 57 

gustine, 2,500; Liberty, 1,000; Jolinsburg, 2,000; 
tlie town of Anahuac, 50; Bevil, 140; Teran, 10; 
Tanaha, 100 ; total population, 9,900, in whicli is in- 
cluded about 1,000 negroes, introduced under special 
arrano^ements. 

" Until now it appears that the New York Com- 
pany are only beginning to interest themselves in 
settling their lands, bought or obtained by contract 
with Messrs. Zavala, Biirnet, and Vehlein, empre- 
•sarios, who first undertook the colonization of the 
immense tracts which they obtained of the State of 
Coahuila and Texas, and wMcli are laid down in the 
maps of the North as lands of the ' Galveston Bay 
Company.' In consequence of tliat transaction, tke 
Company are proprietors of nearly three-fourths of 
the Department of Nacogdoches, including the twenty 
leagues of boundary from that town to the Sabine. 
Of the contracts of Zavala, Burnet, and Yehlein, 
some expired last year, and others will expire during 
the present year. The Supreme Government, if at 
all anxious to do away with a System of jobbing so 
ruinous to the lands of the nation, at the hands of a 
few Mexicans and foreigners, ought, without loss of 
time, to adopt means to obviate the confusion daily 
arising out of contracts witk the speculators, which, 
create a feeling of disgust among the colonists, who 

are dissatisfied with the monopoly enjoyed by com* 
3* 



58 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

panics or contractors that liave acquired tlie lands 
with the sole object of speculating in them. 

" The settlements of this district have not prospered, 
because speculators have not fulfilled their contracts, 
and the scattered population is composed of individ- 
uals who have obtained one or more leagues of land 
from the state, and of others who, in virtue of the 
law of colonization inviting strangers, have established 
themselves wherever it appeared most convenient. 
But the latter have not even the titles to their pro- 
perties, which it would be only fair to extend for 
them, in order to relieve them from that cruel state 
of uncertainty in which some have been placed for 
several years', as to whether they appertain to the 
United States or to Mexico. And as these colonists 
have emigrated at their own expense, it seems just 
that the contractors on whose lands they have settled, 
and who were not instrumental to the introduction of 
their families, should not receive the premium allowed 
by law. In stipulating with those contractors {em- 
presarios) both the General and State Government 
have hitherto acted with too much negligence, and it 
would be well that they should now seriously turn 
their attention to a matter so deeply important. 

"There are three common schools in this depart- 
ment ; one in Nacogdoches, very badly supported, an- 
other at San Augustine, and the third at Johnsburg. 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 59 

Texas wants a good establisliment for public instruc- 
tion, wliere tlie Spanish language maybe taught ; other- 
wise the language will be lost : even at present, Eng- 
lish is almost the only language spoken in this section 
of the Republic. 

"The trade of this Department amounts for the 
year to 470,000 dollars. The exports consist of cotton, 
skins of the deer, otter, beaver, etc., Indian corn, and 
cattle. There will be exported during this year about 
2,000 bales of cotton, 90,000 skins, and 50,000 head 
of cattle, equal in value to 205,000 dollars. The im- 
ports are estimated at 265,000 dollars ; the excess in 
the amount of imports is occasioned by the stock 
which remains on hand in the stores of the dealers. 

" There are about 50,000 head of cattle in the whole 
Department, and prices are on a level with those in 
the Brazos. There are no sheep, nor pasturage adapt- 
ed to them. There are above 60,000 head of swine, 
which will soon form another article of export. 

" There are machines for cleaning and pressing cot- 
ton in the Departments of Nacogdoches and the Brazos. 
There are also a number of saw-mills. A steamboat 
is pl}^ng on the Brazos Kiver, and the arrival of two 
more is expected; one for the Neches, the other for 
the Trinity. 

" The amount of the whole trade of Texas for the 
year 1834 may be estimated at 1,400,000 dollars. 



go HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

DEPAKTMENTS. IMPOKTS. . EXPORTS. TOTAl/. 

Bexar $40,000 $20,000 $60,000 

Brazos 335,000 275,000 600,000 

Nacogdoches 265,000 205,000 470,000 

Approximate valuation of contraband trade with the interior, 

through the ports of Brazoria, Matagorda and Copano 270,000 

Total, $1,400,000 

" Money is very scarce in Texas ; not one in ten sales 
are made for cash. Purchases are made on credit, or 
by barter ; which gives the country, in its trading re- 
lations, the appearance of a continued fair. Trade is 
daily increasing, owing to the large crops of cotton, 
and the internal consumption, caused by the constant 
influx of emigrants from the United States." 

The Commissioner estimates the whole population 
of Texas proper at 36,300 ; of which 21,000 are civil- 
ized inhabitants, and 15,300 Indians. The number of 
hostile Indians is estimated at 10,800, and of friendly 
tribes 4,500 ; of the former, 9,900 are appropriated to 
the Department of Bexar, and the remaining 900 to 
the Brazos. 



CHAPTER HI 

A Letter from Austin. — Santa Anna. — The State of Mexico. — Travis at- 
tacks x^naliuac. — Captui'e of the Correo. — "War and peace parties. — 
Letter of Travis. — Travis, Zavala and others proscribed. — Judge "Wil- 
liamson and General Cos. — Austin's return and speech at Columbia. 
— Committees of Safety formed. — A Consultation suggested.— Zavala, 
Delegation to Indians. — Cos arrives ia Texas. — Battle of Gonzales and 
capture of Goliad. — Benj. Milam. — ^Austin elected Commander-in-chief. 

npHE refusal of the Mexican Government to grant 
-■- Texans the right to figure as a state^ and the im- 
prisonment of their commissioner vexed and troubled 
them. 

From his prison the patriot Austin wrote to his 
people on the 25th of August, 1834 : 

" I do not know as yet what court is to investigate 
my case. I have long since requested to be delivered 
to the authorities of the State of Coahuila and Texas ; 
and I presume I shall finally be sent to the district 
court (Federal Judge) of that state. The President, 
Santa Anna, is friendly to Texas and to me (of this 
I have no doubt), would have set me at liberty long 
since, and in fact issued an order to that effect in 
June, had not some statements arrived about that time 
from the State Government of Coahuila and Texas 
against me, which I understand have contributed to 



62 EI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 

keep me in prison so long. It is said the report of tlie 
State Government on the subject is founded solely on 
the statements of some influential persons who live in 
Texas. Who those persons are I know not. It is 
affirmed that they are North Americans by birth, and 
I am told that if I am not imprisoned for life, and 
totally ruined in property and reputation, it will not 
be for the want of exertion and industry on the part of 
some of my countrymen who live in Texas. Whether 
all this be true or not, I know I am unwilling to 
believe it. I am also told that no efforts were left 
untried, during the last winter and spring, to preju- 
dice the members of the legislature and State Govern- 
ment against me at Monclova." He warned the colo- 
nists against interfering in " the political family quar- 
rels" of the Republic, they "having everything to 
lose and nothing to gain." He called upon the set- 
tlers to obey Santa Anna, who professed to be friendly 
to Texas and himself, and cautioned the farmers 
against " inflammatory politicians," he having begun to 
lose confidence in all persons except those who sought 
their living between the " handles of the plough." 

This letter was no doubt seen by Santa Anna, and 
Mr. Austin perhaps wi'ote thus of him in order to 
gain his liberty. 

According to Yoakum, Santa Anna, on the 5th 
October, 1834, "convoked a meeting composed of his 



mSTORT OF TEXAS. g3 

four secretaries of state, the three representatives from 
Coahuila and Texas, three of his confidential generals, 
Lorenzo de Zavala, and Stephen F. Austin. The ses- 
sion was opened at eleven o'clock in the morning. 
The president having stated the topics to which the 
discussion was limited, Austin laid before the meet- 
ing the object of his mission, and the grounds of his 
petition. After a discussion which lasted three hours, 
embracing every head of the question, and in which 
several of the members participated, Austin urged 
lastly the separation of Texas from Coahuila, and its 
formation into an independent state. This was op- 
posed by the representatives of the state in the 
national Congress, and particularly by Victor Blanco, 
who spoke last on the subject. Santa Anna then 
resolved — 

"1. That he would meditate maturely the decree re- 
pealing the 11th article of the law of the 6th of April, 
1830, and, if no objections were presented, would give 
it his sanction. 

" 2. That a corps, composed of cavalry, infantry, and 
artillery, four thousand strong, should be stationed at 
Bexar, for the protection of the coast and frontier of 
the country, to be under the command of Ceneral 
Mexia. 

" 3. That proper steps should be taken to have regu- 
lar mails, and to remove all obstacles to the agricul 



64 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

tural and otlier industry of tlie inhabitants, ' wlio are 
viewed with the greatest regard.' 

" 4. That Texas must necessarily remain united with 
Coahuila, because it had not the elements warranting 
a separation, nor would it be convenient. And though 
it might be allowed to form a territory, if the inhabi- 
tants called for it, yet the dismembering of a state 
was unknown to Mexican laws, and he would be at a 
loss how to proceed." 

From this extract, which is doubtless correct, it ap- 
pears that at this time Santa Anna was the State of 
Mexico as clearly as ever Louis the 14th was the 
State of France. 

He was jealous and distrustful of the Texans, re- 
fused to release Austin, but still kept him under his 
eye, nor did he release him until nearly a year after 
this tim.e. 

It might have been that he feared his presence in 
Texas until after sending thither troops to keep them 
in subjection, for he knew Austin's popularity and 
influence with his people. 

And then, again, Santa Anna had heard of the rest- 
lessness of the Texans and their aspirations for self- 
government, and perhaps doubted whether they would 
support his despotism if left free to act for themselves. 

In the meantime the wily Mexican sent troops to 
San Antonio, to Groliad and to Anahuac. Capt. 



mSTORT OF TEXAS. g5 

Tenorio, with twenty men, was stationed at tlie latter 
place in order to collect duties and imposts on foreign 
goods entering the port of Galveston. 

Early in 1835, Col. Wm. B. Travis, with some 
Texans, captured Tenorio and his men, disarmed them 
and sent them away, j;hus showing their contempt for 
the Mexican Government, which had invited them to 
immigrate and become citizens, but afterwards failed 
to do justice and protect them. 

To avenge this insult the Mexican Government sent 
a man-of-war to Galveston, which, according to Ken- 
nedy, failed to accomplish its mission. He says : 

"An exaggerated account of the proceedings at 
Anahuac having reached General Cos, he despatched 
Captain Thompson, a naturalized citizen of Mexico, 
in the war schooner Gorreo^ to Galveston, to inquire 
into the circumstances of the affair, and report as 
soon as possible the result of his investigation at Mata- 
moros. Thompson proved himself altogether unfit 
for his mission. Instead of instituting an inquiry into 
the facts of the alleged outrage, he assumed the char- 
acter of a blustering dictator, exceeded his orders, 
and, under the pretext of protecting ^fche revenue, at- 
tacked and captured a vessel in the Texan trade. 
This had the effect of irritating the public mind against 
both Thompson and the Government, and the former 
having continued to linger on the coast, a merchant 



QQ SIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

vessel, the San Felipe., fitted out with cannon at New 
Orleans, and commanded by Captain Hurd, captured 
tiie Correo., and sent it with its commander to New 
Orleans, on a charge of piratically interrupting the 
trade of Mexico and the United States. The insolent 
assumption of authority by Thompson, on the one 
side, and the insulting seizure of a Mexican vessel of 
war, on the other, operated injuriously on the rela- 
tions subsisting between the General Government and 
Texas, and imparted greater boldness to the section 
of Anglo-Americans who desired to bring on an open 
rapture." 

At this time there was a party openly for peace and 
willing to submit to Mexican domination on any 
terms, rather than take up arms, while at the same 
time there was another party composed of such men 
as Cols. Frank W. Johnson, James Bowie, Judge R. 
M. Williamson, Wm. B. Travis, P. H. Jack, John A. 
Wharton, Edwin Waller, and others of the same kind 
of mettle, who wore the galling chains of despotic 
rule mightily against their wills, and were desirous of 
an open rupture. 

On the 30th^ July, 1835, Col. Travis wrote from 
San Felipe, to Bowie, who was then in Nacogdoches : 
" The people are much divided here. The peace party, 
as they style themselves, I believe, are the strongest, 
and make much the most noise. Unless we could be 



EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 67 

united, had we not better be quiet, and settle down for 
a while ? There is now no doubt but that a central 
government will be established. What will Texas 
do in that case ? Dr. J. H. C. Miller, and Chambers, 
from Gonzales, are, I believe, for unqualified submis- 
sion. I do not know the minds of the people upon 
the subject ; but if they had a bold and determined 
leader, I am inclined to think they would kick against 

it General Cos writes that he wants to be at 

peace with us ; and he appears to be disposed to cajole 
and soothe us. Ugartechea does the same, . . . God 
knows what we are to do ! I am determined, for one, 
to go with my countrymen : right or wrong, ' sink or 
swim, live or die, survive or perish,' I am with them ! " 

Five days before Travis wrote this letter, one of the 
peace party. Dr. J. H. C. Miller, wrote from San 
Felipe, to John W. Smith, of San Antonio : 

" All here is in a train for peace. The war and 
speculating parties are entirely put down, and are 
preparing to leave the country. They should now be 
demanded of their respective chiefs, a few at a time. 
First, Johnson, Williamson, Travis and Williams, and 
perhaps that is enough. Captain Martin, once so 
revolutionary, is now, thank God, where he should be, 
in favor of peace and his duty ; and by his influence, 
in a good degree, has peace been restored. But now 
they should be demanded. The moment is auspicious. 



68 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The peoi)le are up. Say so, and oblige one wlio will 
never forget his true allegiance to the supreme author- 
ities of the nation, and who knows that, till they are 
dealt with, Texas will never be quiet. Travis is in a 
peck of troubles. Dr. J, B. Miller disclaims his act 
in taking Anahuac, and he feels the breach. Don 
Lorenzo de Zavala is now in Columbia, attempting to 
arouse, etc. Have him called for, and he also will be 
delivered up. Williams, Baker and Johnson are now 
on a visit to him, and no doubt conspiring against the 
Government. Fail not to move in this matter, and 
that quickly^ as now is the time." 

On the 31st July, the day after Travis wrote his 
letter to his friend Bowie, TJgartechia, the Mexican 
commandant of San Antonio, on the information given 
by Dr. Miller's letter, issued an order for the imme- 
diate arrest of Travis, Johnson, Williamson, Williams, 
Baker, Moore, Zavala, Corvajal, and Zembrana. 

Buck Travis and Three-legged Willie as Col. Travis 
and Judge Williamson were familiarly called by their 
associates, were even then old Texans — so were Sam 
Williams, Frank Johnson and Moseley Baker, but 
Zavala was a refugee from the city of Mexico, of 
which he had been governor — he had also been Mexi- 
can minister to France, but was a republican and an 
opponent of the usurpation and despotism of Santa 
Anna. Says Yoakum : 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. gg 

" Santa Anna was extremely solicitous to obtain pos- 
session of the person of Zavala. The latter had been 
his friend, and had sustained him in a trying hour. 
But the aid was given for the cause of liberty ! Santa 
Anna had deserted that cause, and now wished to sac- 
rifice an ancient friend, who might live to reproach 
him for his perfidy. 'I give this supreme order,' 
says Tornel to Cos, ' having the honor to direct it to 
you, requiring you to provide and bring into action all 
your ingenuity and activity in arranging energetic 
plans for success in the apprehension of Don Lorenzo 
Zavala, which person, in the actual circumstances of 
Texas, must be very pernicious. To this end 1 particu- 
larly recommend that you spare no means to secure 
his person, and place it at the disposition of the Su- 
preme Grovernment.' 

" Cos, in transmitting this order to Ugartechea, on 
the 8th of August, directed him, if Zavala was not 
given up, to proceed at the head of all his cavalry to 
execute the command, and to give to the local au- 
thorities on the route information ^s to his sole 
object. General Cos also approved of Colonel 
Ugartechea's requisition upon the alcaldes for the 
other obnoxious individuals previously mentioned, 
and especially Travis, whose arrest he ordered, that 
he might be conducted to Bexar, to be tried by a 
military coui't." 



70 SIS TOBY OF TEXAS. ■ 

Judge Williamson, on the 4tli of July, had delivered 
a powerful oration on the situation and " the importance 
of our country, our property, our liberty, and our lives, 
which are all involved in the present contest between 
the states and the military." Again, on the 2 2d June, 
he had spoken of Cos, at San Filipe, " as capable of as 
much hypocrisy as he deemed necessary to conceal his 
designs and ensnare the Texan patriots. He did not, 
however, deceive them long. He sent them a circular, 
dated the 12th of June, 1835, full of the paternal 
views of the national government. At the same time 
he despatched a message to the commandant at Ana- 
huac, informing him that the two companies of New 
Leon and the battalion of Morales would sail imme- 
diately for Texas ; and that they would be followed 
by another strong force, which he had solicited the 
government to send. With this despatch also went 
another, from Ugartechea, giving the information that 
the force which had conquered Zacatecas, and which 
was then at Saltillo, had likewise been ordered, to 
Texas, and would soon regulate matters ! " 

The order for the arrest of these popular patriots 
was never executed, but fired the hearts of Texans 
with a spirit of resistance. Even the officers of the 
Mexican Government became enthused. Henry Rueg, 
the political chief of Nacogdoches, took side with the 
war party, and addressed a circular to his department, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 71 

prating of the constitution of 1824, and his adherence 
to the federal form of government. 

In answer to this circular, General Cos, the brother- 
in-law of Santa Anna, wrote to him : 

" You are made responsible for the consequences 
which such a document may produce ; for it is your 
duty to give to your subordinates an example of sub- 
mission and respect to the laws of the country. You 
have invited and conducted them toward rebellion and 
open resistance to its superior dispositions. The plans 
of the revolutionists of Texas are well known to this 
commandancy; and it is quite useless and vain to 
cover them with a hypocritical adherence to the Fede- 
ral Constitution. The constitution by which all Mex- 
icans may be governed is the constitution which the 
colonists of Texas must obey, no matter on what j97'm- 
cvples it may be formed." 

Before this time, in order to defend themselves 
against the Indians, the inhabitants of Mina (now 
Bastrop), had organized a Committee of Safety, of 
which Edward Burleson, J. W. Bunton, Sam Wolf en- 
burger, and John McGee were distinguished members. 

The first meeting at Bastrop was on May 17th, 1835, 
after which the municipalities of San Filij)e, Columbia, 
Nacogdoches and San Augustine also formed commit- 
tees of safety and vigilance, which proved of great 
good in communicating information and forming con- 



72 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

certed action beween the different sections of the 
state. 

On the 8th of September, 1835, at a public meeting 
in Brazoria, Mr. Austin thus gives an account of his 
mission to the city of Mexico, his treatment while 
there, and the ultimate design of Mexican politicians 
to overthrow the state governments and establish on 
their ruins a centralized despotism : 

"I left Texas," said Mr. Austin, "in April, 1833, 
as the public agent of the people, for the purpose of 
applying for the admission of this country into the 
Mexican Confederation as a state separate from 
Coahuila. This application was based upon the con- 
stitutional and vested rights of Texas, and was sus- 
tained by me in the city of Mexico to the utmost of 
my abilities. No honorable means were spared to 
effect the objects of my mission, and to oppose the 
forming of Texas into a Territory, which was at- 
tempted. I rigidly adhered to the instructions and 
wishes of my constituents, so far as they were com- 
municated to me. My efforts to serve Texas involved 
me in the labyrinth of Mexican politics. I was 
arrested, and have suffered a long persecution and 
imprisonment. I consider it to be my duty to give 
an accoimt of these events to my constituents, and 
will therefore at this time merely observe that I 
have never, in any mannei*, agreed to anything, or 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 73 

admitted anything, tliat would compromise the con- 
stitutional or vested rights of Texas. These rights 
belong to the people, and can only be surrendered by 
them. 

" I fully hoped to have found Texas at peace and 
in tranquillity, but regret to find it in commotion; 
all disorganized, all in anarchy, and threatened with 
immediate hostilities. This state of things is deeply 
to be lamented ; it is a great misfortune, but it is one 
which has not been produced by any acts of the 
people of this country; on the contrary, it is the 
natural and inevitable consequence of the revolution 
that has spread all over Mexico, and of the impru- 
dent and impolitic measures both of the general and 
state governments with respect to Texas. The peo- 
ple here are not to blame, and cannot be justly 
censured. They are farmers, cultivators of the soil, 
and are pacific from interest, from occupation, and 
from inclination. They have uniformly endeavored 
to sustain the constitution and the public peace, and 
have never deviated from their duty as Mexican 
citizens. If any acts of imprudence have been com- 
mitted by individuals, they evidently resulted from 
the revolutionary state of the whole nation, the 
imprudent and censurable conduct of the state au- 
thorities, and the total want of a local government 

in Texas. It is, indeed, a source of surprise and 
4 



t^^ HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

creditable congratulation, that so few acts of this 
description have occurred under the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the times. It is, however, to be 
remembered that acts of this nature were not the 
acts of the people, nor is Texas responsible for them. 
They were, as I before observed, the natural conse- 
quences of the revolutionary state of the Mexican 
nation; and Texas certainly did not originate that 
revolution, neither have the people, as a people, 
participated in it. The consciences and hands of the 
Texans are free from censure, and clean. 

" The revolution in Mexico is drawing to a close. 
The object is to change the form of government, de- 
stroy the Federal Constitution of 1824, and establish 
a central or consolidated government. The states 
are to be converted into provinces. 

" Whether the people of Texas ought or ought not 
to agree to this change, and relinquish all or a part of 
their constitutional and vested rights under the Con- 
stitution of 1824, is a question of the most vital im- 
portance, one that calls for the deliberate consideration 
of the people, and can only be decided by them, fairly 
convened for the purpose. As a citizen of Texas I 
have a right to an opinion on so important a matter — 
I have no other right, and pretend to no other. In 
the report which I consider it my duty to make to my 
constituents, I intend to give my views on the present 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 75 

situation of tlie country, and especially as to tlie con- 
stitutional and natural rights of Texas, and will, there- 
fore, at this time, merely touch this subject. 

" Under the Spanish G-overnment, Texas was a 
separate and distinct province. As such it had a 
separate and distinct local organization. It was one 
of the unities that composed the general mass of the 
nation, and as such participated in the war of the re- 
volutdou, and was represented in the Constituent 
Congress of Mexico that formed the Constitution of 
1824. This Constituent Congress, so far from destroy- 
ing this unity, expressly recognized and confirmed it 
by the law of May 'Tth, 1824, which united Texas 
with Qo2ih.m\di, provisionally^ under the especial guar- 
antee of being made a State of the Mexican Confed- 
eration as soon as it possessed the necessary elements. 
That law and the Federal Constitution gave to Texas a 
specific political existence, and vested in its inhabitants 
special and defined rights, which can only be relin- 
quished by the people of Texas, acting for themselves 
as a unity, and not as a part of Coahuila, for the rea- 
son that the union with Coahuila was limited^ and 
only gave power to the State of Coahuila and Texas 
to govern Texas for the time being, hut always sub- 
ject to the vested rights of Texas. The State, there- 
fore, cannot relinquish those vested rights, by agree- 
ing to the change of government, or by any other act, 



76 EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

unless expressly authorized by tlie people of Texas to 
do so ; neither can the Greneral Government of Mex- 
ico legally deprive Texas of them without the consent 
of this people. These are my opinions. 

" An important question now presents itself to the 
people of this country. 

"The Federal Constitution of 1824 is about to be 
destroyed, the system of government changed, and a 
central or consolidated one established. Will this 
act annihilate all the rights of Texas, and subject this 
country to the uncontrolled and unlimited dictation 
of the new government ? 

" This is a subject of the most vital importance. I 
have no doubt the Federal Constitution will be de- 
stroyed, and a central government established, and 
that the people will soon be called upon to say whether 
they agree to this change or not. This matter requires 
the most calm discussion, the most mature delibera- 
tion, and the most perfect union. How is this to be 
had ? I see but one way, and that is by a General 
Consultation of the people by means of delegates 
elected for that purpose, with full powers to give 
such an answer, in the name of Texas, to this question, 
as they may deem best, and to adopt such measures 
as the tranquillity and salvation of the country may 
require. 

" It is my duty to state that General Santa Anna 



HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 



77 



verbally and expressly authorized me to say to the 
people of Texas that he was their friend, that he 
wished for their prosperity, and would do all he could 
to promote it ; and that, in the new Constitution, he 
would use his influence to give to the people of Texas 
a special organization, suited to their education, habits, 
and situation. Several of the most intelligent and 
influential men in Mexico, and especially the Ministers 
of Relations and War, expressed themselves in the 
same manner. These declarations aiford another and 
more urgent necessity for a General Consultation of 
all Texas, in order to inform the General Government, 
and especially General Santa Anna, what kind of or- 
ganization will suit the education, habits, and situa- 
tion of this people. 

" It is also proper for me to state that, in all my 
conversation with the President, and ministers, and 
men of influence, I advised that no troops should be 
sent to Texas, and no cruisers along the coast. I gave 
it as my decided opinion, that the inevitable conse- 
quence of sending an armed force to this country 
w^ould be war. I stated that there was a sound and 
correct moral principle in the people of Texas that 
was abundantly sufficient to restrain or put down all 
turbulent or seditious movements, but that this moral 
p>rinciple could not and would not unite with any 
armed force sent against this country ; on the contrary, 



78 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

it would resist and repel it, and ought to do so. This 
point presents another strong reason why the people 
of Texas should meet in General Consultation. This 
country is now in anarchy, threatened with hostilities ; 
armed vessels are capturing everything they can catch 
on the coast, and acts of piracy are said to be commit- 
ted under cover of the Mexican flag. Can this state of 
things exist without precipitating the country into a 
war ? I think it cannot, and therefore believe that it 
is our bounden and solemn duty, as Mexicans and 
as Texans, to represent the evils that are likely to 
result from this mistaken and most impolitic policy in 
the military movements. 

"My friends, I can truly say that no one has been, 
or is now, more anxious than myself to keep trouble 
away from this country. No one has been, or now is, 
more faithful to his duty as a Mexican citizen, and no 
one has personally sacrificed or suffered more in the 
discharge of his duty. I have uniformly been opposed 
to have anything to do with the family political quar- 
rels of the Mexicans. Texas needs peace and a local 
government ; its inhabitants are farmers, and they need 
a calm and quiet life. But how can I, or any one, re- 
main indifferent when our rights, our all, appear to be 
in jeopardy, and when it is our duty, as well as our 
obligation, as good Mexican citizens, to express our 
opinions on the present state of things, and to repre- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 79 

sent our situation to the government? It is impos- 
sible. Tlie crisis is such, as to bring it home to the 
judgment of every man that something must be done, 
and that without delay. The question will perhaps be 
asked, What are we to do ? I have already indicated 
my opinion. Let all personalities, or divisions, or ex- 
citements, or passion, or violence, be banished from 
among us. Let a General Consultation of the people 
of Texas be convened as speedily as possible, to be 
composed of the best, and most calm, and intelligent, 
and firm men in the country, and let them decide what 
representations ought to be made to the General Gov- 
ernment, and what ought to be done in future." 

The amiable manners, good sense, sterling integ- 
rity, and sufferings of Stephen F. Austin had endeared 
him to his people, who listened to his advice as chil- 
dren to the admonitions of a parent. 

Immediately after his return from Mexico, he was 
chosen chairman of the Committee of Vigilance of the 
municipality of San Filipe. Pearson, in his "Life of 
Hon. Edwin Waller," says: 

"Up to the time of his arrival, our people were 
divided on the question of submission or resistance. 
Austin's arrival and declared opinion that we had no 
choice but resistance, reconciled all former conflict of 
opinion. Up to this time some of our best citizens 
were so far deceived and misled by the asurances of 



80 SISTOMY OF TEXA8. 

Colonel TJgartecliea, commandant at San Antonio, 
and Greneral Cos, commander of the Eastern Depart- 
ment, that they were not only disposed to await events, 
but denounced those in favor of resistance in no 
measured terms." 

The municipality of Columbia has the honor of 
putting the ball in motion for a CONSULTATION, 
for as early as June 23d, 1835, its citizens approved 
it, and on the 15 th of August following at a public 
meeting instructed its Committee of Safety to pre- 
pare an addi^ess to the people of Texas, requesting 
union and concert of action for a General Consultation 
of all the municipalities. 

The committee appointed at the meeting of the 
15th of August, consisting of John A. Wharton, W. 
D. C. Hall, Henry Smith, Silas Dinsmore, James 
F. Perry, John Gr. McNeil, Kobert H. Williams, 
W. H. Jack, F. A. Bingham, John Hodge, Wade 
H. Bynum, Branch T. Archer, William T. Austin, 
and others, issued an address on the 20th of the 
same month, and expressed it to all tLe jurisdictions 
in which an election of five delegates was suggested, 
to take place on the 5th of October in each munici- 
pality, to represent the same in the Consultation to 
meet at Washington, ten days thereafter. 

It is reported that Don Lorenzo Zavala, in an ad- 
dress made by him on the 7th of August, 1835, at 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 31 

Harrisburg, said that " Coahmla and Texas formed 
a state of tlie republic, and, as one part of it is 
occupied b}^ an invading force, tlie free part of it 
sliould proceed to organize a power whicli ayouM 
restore harmony, and establish uniformity in all the 
branches of the public administration, which would 
be a rallying-point for the citizens, whose hearts now 
tremble for liberty. But as this power can only be 
organized by means of a convention, which should 
represent the free will of the citizens of Texas, it is 
my opinion that this step should be taken, and I 
suggest the 15th day of October as a time sufficient 
to allow all the departments to send their represen- 
tatives." 

On the 19th of September, 1835, the Committee of 
Safety of San Filipe, of which Stephen F. Austin 
was chairman, issued a circular, signed by himself, 
advising as follows : 

"That the people should maintain the position 
taken by them at their primary meetings — to insist 
on their rights under the Federal Constitution of 
1824, and the law of the 7th of May of that year, 
and union with the Mexican Confederation. 

" That every district should send members to the 
General Consultation, with full powers to do what- 
ever may be necessary .for the good of the country. 

" That every district should organize its militia, 
4* 



32 • EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

where it is not already done, and liold frequent 
musters ; and that the captains of companies make a 
return, without delay, to the chief of this depart- 
ment, of the force of his company, and of its arms 
and ammunition, in order that he may lay the same 
before the General Consultation of Texas. Volun- 
teer companies are also recommended. 

" This committee deem it to be their duty to say 
that, in its opinion, all kind of conciliatory measures 
with General Cos and the military at Bexar are 
hopeless, and that nothing but the euiw of Texas can 
be expected from any such measures. They have 
already, and very properly, been resorted to without 
elfect. Wak is our only resource. There is no 
other remedy. We must defend our rights, ourselves, 
and our country, by force of arms. To do this we 
must unite — and in order to unite, the delegates of 
the people must meet in General Consultation and 
arrange a system of defence, and give organization 
to the country, so as to produce concert. Until some 
competent authority is established to direct, all that 
can be done is to recommend this subject to the 
people, and to advise every man in Texas to prepare 
for war, and lay aside all hope of conciliation." 

The people of San Augustine and Nacogdoches also, 
led on by the eloquent appeals of E,usk and Houston, 
held meetings aud passed resolutions providing for 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 33 

organizing the militia and negotiating with the In- 
dians, of whom Yoakum says : " There were more 
than a thousand warriors among the difEerent tribes 
that had emigrated from the United States, and 
almost surrounded the frontier of eastern Texas." 

Houston and Rusk were members of a delegation 
sent to conciliate them. 

They informed the Indians that " they had ordered 
all their surveyors to keep away from their lands, 
and not to make any marks on them ; that they did 
not intend that any white man should interrupt 
them on their lands." 

On the 12th of September, the Safety Committee of 
San Filipe issued a circular to the Indians, promising 
them all their just and legal rights. 

About this time General Cos landed at Copano 
with 400 men, and marched by v/'ay of Goliad to 
San Antonio, he and his soldiers openly proclaiming 
the object of his mission — GeneTol Cos with his 
troops intended to overrun Texas, and establish cus- 
tom-houses and detachments of his army luhere he 
thought proper. To disarm the people, drive out all 
Americans ivho had come into Texas since 1830, and 
to punish those who had insulted the Supreme Govern- 
ment of Mexico and refused obedience to its laws. 

The first battle of the Texan revolution took place 
at Gonzales, on the 2d of Oct^er, 1835. 



84 HmTOBY OF TEXAS. 

Commencing to disarm the Texans, Captain Casto- 
naclo was sent from San Antonio by its commandant, 
Ugartecliea, with two hundi'ed men to Gonzales for a 
brass six-pounder cannon at that place. 

The people of Gonzales refused to deliver it up, 
sent for assistance to Bastrop, San Filipe, and other 
places, whose people flew to their aid, and they at- 
tacked and drove oiffi Castonado and his men. The 
following account of the affair is taken from Ken- 
nedy, vol. 2, pages 108, 109 : 

" The Texan force at Gonzales had been increased by 
volunteers from the Guadalupe, La Baca, and Col- 
orado, to 168 men, of whom fifty were mounted. 
In an election for field-officers, they chose John H. 
Moore, colonel, and J. W. E. Wallace, lieutenant- 
colonel. About seven o'clock in the evening of the 
1st, they crossed the river Guadalupe. The line of 
march was formed by 'placing the cavalry in ad- 
vance of the cannon (the brass six-pounder claimed 
by Ugartechea), two companies of flankers in open 
column on each side, with a company of infantry in 
the rear.' They moved regularly and in silence, 
until the Mexicans, alarmed by a shot from one of 
their piquets, formed in order of battle on a high 
mound. This was about four o'clock in the morning, 
during the prevalence of a thick fog, under cover of 
which the Texans advanced on the open prairie 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 35 

until tliey were within about three hundred and 
fifty yards of the enemy. The scouts in front having 
discharged theii' rifles, retired into the main body, 
closely pursued by a small detachment of Mexicans. 
The six-pounder was now brought to bear upon the 
entire force of the enemy, who fell back to a position 
distant between three and four hundred yards. The 
Texans advanced in good order, when Castonado, 
the Mexican commander, conveyed, through a pri- 
soner, his desire for a conference, which was granted. 
Having inquired the reason of the attack by the 
colonists, he was referred to his orders, which com- 
manded him to take by force the cannon that had 
been presented to the citizens of Gonzales, for the 
defence of the Constitution, by the constituted au- 
thorities under the Confederation, who alone were 
entitled to their obedience. He, they said, was the 
instrument of Santa Anna, who had overturned the 
rights of all the states except Texas, for whose con- 
stitutional privileges they were determined to fight 
to. the last. The conference terminated without an 
adjustment, and the commanders joined their re- 
spective ranks. The Gonzales six-pounder resumed 
its fire, and the Texans advanced in double-quick 
time until within about two hundred yards of the 
enemy, when the latter retreated precipitately on 
the road to San Antonio de Bexar, having sustained 



36 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

a considerable loss in killed and wounded. The 
Texans, of wliom not a man was injured, remained 
masters of the field, and having collected the spoils 
of victory, returned in tiiumph to Gonzales." 

Thus commenced the memorable contest for liberty 
and struggle for independence in Texas, which in its 
development will call for a tear of sympathy from the 
generous for the misfortunes and calamities of those 
who suffered and died in it, and a word of applause 
and admiration for its victorious survivors, who in the 
end so wisely and heroically constructed upon the 
ruins of Mexican misrule and domination, the beauti- 
ful fabric of Anglo-American Kepublicanism. 

After the return of Castonado to San Antonio, 
Ugartechia wrote to Austin, in explanation of the 
Correo matter saying : " I know you are right to com- 
plain of Thompson's proceedings, which I still less 
approve, as they were arbitrary, he having no author- 
ity to act in such a manner." That he would himself 
set out the next day (the 5th), "with the knowledge 
of Cos, with a force composed of every description 
of arms, sufficient to prove that the Mexicans would 
never suffer themselves to be insulted." He stated, 
however, in conclusion, that if Austin "would use his 
influence with the political chief to have the gun 
delivered wp to the writer, wherever it might meet him^ 
from that spot he ivould immediately return / if not, 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 87 

he would act militarily, and tlie consequence would 
be a war declared by the colonists, wMch should be 
maintained by the nation with corresponding dignity." 

But the ball of revolution had been put in motion 
and increased hy going. News of the battle of Gon- 
zales sped like lightning through the settlements. 
Houston and Rusk, Austin and Johnson, Bowie and 
Travis, hastened to the scene of conflict, while Capt. 
George Collingsworth, with about forty planters from 
Old Caney and Matagorda, marched to attack Goliad, 
where he arrived at midnight on the 9 th, sent two or 
three men into the town to reconnoitre, while he waited 
for his command to come up. 

" The latter," says Yoakum, " having got lost, were 
detained ; but on their route they fell in with the gal- 
lant Milam, who, having escaped from prison in Mon- 
terey, had rode night and day to reach Texas. He 
had stopped in a musquit-thicket to rest, when the Tex- 
ans discovered and recognized him. A nobler volun- 
teer could not have joined the ranks. Their number 
now being forty-eight, they advanced upon the town, 
guided by pioneers acquainted with the localities. 
They first attacked the quarters of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Sandoval, the commandant. The sentinel having fired 
was shot down ; the door of the commandant was then 
broken open mth axes, and he was taken prisoner. 
The Mexicans were completely surprised, and surrender- 



S3 EISTOEY OF TEXAS. 

ed unconditionally. Of the enemy there was one killed 
and three wounded; the Texans had one slightly 
wounded, and they took about twenty-five prisoners — 
the balance escaped." 

Kennedy, in his account of the capture of Goliad, 
diif ers with Yoakum as to date and nambers, but is so 
complimentary to the lamented Milam and the farmers 
of Old Caney and Matagorda, that it is here inserted : 

" The colonists in the west, no th withstanding their 
paucity of numbers and limited resources, acted boldly 
on the offensive. On the 8th, a detachment of fifty 
men, under Captain Collingsworth, attacked and cap- 
tured the post of Goliad, containing stores to the 
amount of 10,000 dollars, with two brass cannon and 
300 stand of arms. The garrison, which was com- 
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sandoval, surrendered 
after a slight resistance. One Mexican soldier was^ 
killed and three wounded, and one Texan slightly 
wounded. A most valuable addition was made to the 
military councils of the colonists at Goliad, in the 
person of Colonel Milam, who unexpectedly appeared 
at this critical period. 

" Benjamin E,. Milam, whose name will long be held 
in grateful and honored remembrance by the people 
of Texas, was born of humble parents in the State of 
Kentucky, and received but a very imperfect education. 
'Endowed by nature with a strength of mind and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 39 

spii'it of enterprise almost peculiar to the inliabitaiits 
of the Western States,' fortified by habits of indepen- 
dence, he associated with the Indian tribes, in order 
to explore the more southerly parts of Texas. In the 
war with Great Britain, in 1812-15, he acquired a 
high reputation among his countrymen ; but, dissatis- 
fied with the prospects that awaited him in his native 
state at the close of that contest, he engaged in the 
struggle for Mexican liberation, and was quickly dis- 
tinguished for courage, activity, zeal, and love of free- 
dom. Opposed to the usurpation of Iturbide, he was 
arrested and imprisoned; but eventually released by 
a rising of the people. Having assisted in the expul- 
sion and punishment of the military emperor, he 
obtained, in 1828, a government grant of land in 
Texas. Having been arrested by the usurper Santa 
Anna, he had recently escaped. Shunning the habi- 
tations of the Mexican, and tra^versing unfrequented 
paths for a distance of 600 miles, with a few scanty 
articles of food provided at the place of his confine- 
ment, he had arrived near the town of Goliad, and 
threw himself, faint, and almost exhausted, among 
the tall grass of the prairie. The approach of armed 
men arrested his attention, and presuming them to be 
his Mexican pursuers, he determined to defend himself 
to the last, and only surrender liberty with life. To 
his astonishment and joy, he discovered the advancing 



90 EI8T0BY OF TEXA8. 

force to be Ms fellow-colonists of Texas, wlio were 
marcliing against G-oliad. He entered the ranks 
of the volunteers as a private soldier, although, ac- 
customed and well qualified to command, and was 
foremost in the assault on Goliad — remaining 
with the army after the capture of the fort, in 
the same humble grade, as an example to those 
who might aspire to lead before they had learned to 
obey." 

There being no head to the Texans^ at the suggestion 
of the Safety Committee of San Filipe, made by circu- 
lar on the 4th of October, a GENERAL COUNCIL 
was formed of one member from each committee of 
safety of the various municipalities, on the 11th of 
October, which was to serve as a government until the 
people had time to make a better one. 

The Consultation met on the 16th, but Austin, 
with a majority of the members-elect, having joined 
the army of Gonzales, there was no quorum, and it 
adjourned to meet on the 1st November, when most 
of its members, at the invitation of Austin, who had 
been elected commander-in-chief of the Texans on the 
evening of the 10th, joined the army, while some of 
them remained to assist the General Council in or- 
ganizing victory out of the slender resources of the 
state. 

Never were a people more united ; the peace party 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 91 

had been swallowed up or totally absorbed by tlie war 
party, and " it required more patriotism to keep men 
at liome than ta get them into the service ! " — San 
Filipe Safety Committee, October 13th, 1835, Cir- 
cular. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Austin goes to San Antonio. — Battle of Ooncepcion. — Report of Colonel 
Bowie. — Lipantitlan taken by Westover. — The Consultation. — Provi- 
sional Government. — Austin's Report to Provisional Government. — • 
Decree of October ^d. — The army before San Antonio ordered to raise 
the siege. — Colonel B. R. Milam calls for volunteers. — Attack on San 
Antonio, death of Colonel Milam, capture of the city, surrender of 
Cos, etc. 

N the IStli of October, 1835, having organized 
Ms little army, variously estimated at from 
three to five hundred men, Gen. Austin set out for 
San Antonio de Bexar, which he proposed to attack, 
and drive away its commandant, Gen. Cos, with the 
Mexican army under his command. 

Before starting, however, he wrote to Zavala, who 
had succeeded him as chairman of the Committee of 
Safety at San Filipe, begging him to urge the eastern 
volunteers " to hurry on by forced marches " to join 
him, and " not to stay for cannon or for anything." 
He also solicited supplies of ammunition, with pro- 
visions and other necessaries for the troops. 

Upon arriving at the Salado about five miles east of 
San Antonio on the 20th, he sent in a flag of truce to 
Gen. Cos, who refused to receive it or to acknowledge 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 93 

Austin's military capacity, and threatened to fire on a 
second flag if sent. 

From the Salado, Austin moved to the mission of 
Espada, ten or twelve miles below the city on the San 
Antonio Kiver, and there for a few days awaited re- 
inforcements. 

On the 27th, he sent Colonels Fannin and Bowie 
with ninety -two men to select, nearer the enemy, some 
eligible situation for camping, who, after inspecting 
the old missions of San Jos6 and San Juan, ap- 
proached the mission of Concepcion, and encamped 
for the night in a bend of the river, with level prairie 
in front, and the densely timbered bank of the river 
forming an angle on both flanks and in their rear — ■ 
about a mile and a half from San Antonio. The next 
morning was foggy, notwithstanding which, the cun- 
ning Mexicans came slyly from the city and un- 
beknowenst to the Texans, surrounded and com- 
menced firing at them. 

Colonel James Bowie's official report as to the sub- 
sequent details of the action which followed, being 
very full and complete, is here inserted : 

" The men were called to arms, but were for some 
time unable to discover their foes, who had entirely 
surrounded the position, and kept up a constant fir- 
ing at a distance, with no other effect than a waste of 
ammunition. When the fog rose it was apparent to 



94 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

all that we were surrounded, and that a desperate 
fiofht was inevitable, all communication with the main 
army having been cut off. Immediate preparation 
was made by extending our right flank (first division) 
to the south, and placing the second division on the 
left, on the same side ; so that they might be prepared 
for the enemy should they charge into the angle, and 
avoid the effect of a cross-fire of our own men, and 
likewise form a compact body, so that either might 
reinforce the other at the shortest notice without cross- 
ing the angle — an exposed ground, which would have 
occasioned certain loss. The men, in the meantime, 
were ordered to clear away bushes and vines under 
the eminence in the rear, and along the margin of the 
river, and at the steepest places to cut steps for foot- 
hold, in order to afford them space to form and pass, 
and at suitable places ascend the 'bluff,' discharge 
their rifles, and fall back to reload. The work was 
not completed to our wish before the Mexican in- 
fantry were seen to advance, with arms trailed, to the 
right of the first division, and form the line of battle 
about two hundred yards distance from the right flank. 
Five companies of cavalry supported them, covering 
our whole front and flank. 

" The engagement commenced at about eight o'clock, 
A.M., by the deadly crack of a rifle from the extreme 
right. The action was immediately general. The dis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 95 

charge from the enemy was one continued blaze of fire, 
whilst that from our lines was more slowly delivered, 
but with good aim and deadly effect, each man retir- 
ing under cover of the hill and timber, to give place 
to others until he reloaded. The battle had not lasted 
more than ten minutes, when a brass six-pounder was 
opened on our line at the distance of about eighty 
yards from the right flank of the first division, and a 
charge sounded. But the cannon was cleared, as if 
by magic, and a check put to the charge. The same 
experiment was resorted to with like success three 
times, the division advancing under cover of the hill 
at each fire, and thus approximating near the cannon 
and victory. ' The cannon and victory,' was truly the 
war-cry ; the enemy only fired it five times, and it had 
been three times cleared, and their charge as often 
broken, when a disorderly and precipitate retreat was 
sounded and most readily obeyed, leaving the cannon 
to the victors. Thus a detachment of ninety-two men 
gained a complete victory over part of the main army 
of the Central Government, being at least four to one, 
with only the loss of one brave soldier (Richard 
Andrews), and none wounded.* 



* Colonel Bowie estimated the Mexican loss at about sixty killed and forty 
wounded, the list of killed including many officers. None of the artillery- 
men escaped unhurt. There was no accurate return of the Mexican loss. 



QQ EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

"No invidious distinction can be drawn between 
any officer or private on this occasion. Every man 
was a soldier, and did Ms duty agreeably to tlie situ- 
ation and circumstances under w^hich lie was placed. 
At the close of the engagement a piece of heavy ar- 
tillery was brought up and fired thrice, but at a dis- 
tance, and by a reinforcement of another company of 
cavalry, aided by six mules ready harnessed, they 
got it off. The main army (of Texas) reached us in 
about an hour after the enemy^s retreat. Had it 
been possible to communicate with you (General 
Austin) and bring you up earlier, the victory would 
have been conclusive, and Bexar ours before twelve 
o'clock." 

At noon on the next day Greneral Cos sent a flag of 
truce to General Austin, requesting permission to bury 
the dead, which was granted. 

After the battle of Concepcion, Austin encamped 
with his army on the field of battle until the 2d of 
November. He then moved up north of the city, and 
camped on the river near its source. 

Occasional skirmishes took place, in one of which, 
the Geass fight, about fifty Mexicans were killed 
and several wounded, while the Texans lost two 
wounded and one missing. 

In the meantime, Captain Westover, of the com- 
mand stationed at Goliad, after its capture by the 



HISTORY OF TEX:AR. ' 97 



gallant Collingswortli, with tliirty-six men attacked 
and took Lipantitlan, above San Patricio, its garrison 
of twenty-one men aiid two pieces of artillery. 

While returning to Goliad after paroling their 
prisoners, they were attacked while crossing the 
Nueces by about seventy Mexicans, of whom they 
killed and wounded about twenty, with a loss of one 
wounded, when the Mexicans retired. 

" News of these successes," says Yoakum, " spread 
over the country through the agency of the com- 
mittees of safety, and cheered the Texans in their 
struggle. The same intelligence, reaching the United 
States, kindled a flame of sympathy everywhere. 
At New York, Cincinnati, Loaisville, Nashville, 
Macon, Huntsville, Natchitoches, Mobile, New Or- 
leans, and other places, funds were raised, and emi- 
grants fitted out in squads, companies, and battalions. 
True, there were, in all these places, icy spirits, who 
had no sympathy, and who condemned Texas for not 
submitting to Santa Anna. Such men, if they really 
knew the wrongs inflicted on Texas, and those greater 
wrongs with which she was threatened — had they 
lived in the time of the American Eevolution, would 
have opposed it also. It ill became a country like 
the United States, still red with the blood of her 
rebellion against Greorge III., to blame Texas for 
going into the contest with Mexican despotism. The 



98 EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

former revolted because of taxation without represen- 
tation. The wrongs of Texas were so mucli greater 
tliat she did not even complain of the absence of that 
right ! Mexico complained to the United States that 
the revolted Texans were ' daily obtaining from New 
Orleans assistance of all kinds, in men, munitions, 
and arms, in silver and soldiers, who publicly enlist 
in that city, and carry with them arms against a 
friendly nation.' There was no law in the United 
States^ to prevent public meetings, or to prohibit the 
transmission of funds or arms to other countries; 
nor was there any law to prevent persons from leav- 
ing the United States, provided they did not organize 
and array their forces within her limits. President 
Jackson was not the man to shrink from any official 
duty, however painful; but, as an individual, he 
could not but feel an interest in a struggle like that 
in which Texas was engaged ; and what he thought, 
he spoke. It cannot be denied that in some instances 
the law was violated, and that organized bodies of 
men did leave the United States ; but the sympathy 
for the cause of the Texans was almost universal, and 
no one made it his business to advise prosecuting 
officers of these movements. They came — they aided 
Texas; she gave them a home, and many of them 
remained within her limits. The Lafayettes, the 
Pulaskis, and the Kosciuskos of Texas will be kindly 



HI8T0R7 OF TEXAS. 99 

rememlbered, not only throughout her borders, but 
wherever liberty has friends." 

But to return to the CoisrsuLTATioiir, which met in San 
Filipe November 1st, 1835, and organized on the od. 
Gen. Houston and other members, by the advice of 
Gen. Austin, left the army while it was encamped at 
the mission of Espada, to attend it. The municipali- 
ties were represented as follows : 

Municipality of Bevil : John Bevil, S. H. Everitt, 
"Wyatt Hanks. 

San Augustine : William N. Sigler, A. Houston, A. 
E. C. Johnson, Henry Augustin, A. Horton, A. G. 
Kellogg. 

Nacogdoches : Sam Houston, James W. Robinson, 
•Daniel Parker, William Whitaker. 

Columbia: John A. Wharton, J. S. D. Byrom, 
Edwin Waller, Henry Smith. 

Austin: Wylie Martin, Randal Jones, Thomas 
Barnett, Jesse Burnham, William Menefee. 

Liberty : Henry Millard, Claiborne West, George 
M. Patrick, J. B. Woods, A. B. Hardin. 

Harrishurg : Lorenzo D. Zavala, M. W. Smith, 
William P. Harris, John W. Moore, C. C. Dyer, David 
B. Macomb. 

Matagorda : R. R. Royal, Charles Wilson. 

Mina: D. C. Barrett, R. M. Williamson, J. S. 
Lester. 



100 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

WasMngton : Asa Mitcliell, Elijali Collard, Jesse 
Grimes, Philip Coe, Asa Hoxey. 

Gonzales : W. S. Fisher, J. D. Clements, George 
W. Davis, James Hodges, William W. Arrington, 
Benjamin Fuqua. 

Viesca: S. T. Allen, A. G. Perry, J. G. W. Pierson, 
Alexander Thompson, J. W. Parker. 

Tenehaw : Martin Parmer. 

The Consultation superseded the council, and after 
thirteen days' labor organized a Provisional Govern- 
ment, republic in form, and elected Henry Smith, 
Governor; J. W. Robertson, Lieutenant-Governor; 
Sam Houston, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and 
a council of twelve to co-operate with the Governor. 

Branch T. Archer, William H. Wharton, and Ste- 
phen F. Austin, were duly chosen commissioners to 
the United States. Messrs. A. Houston, Daniel Par- 
ker, Jesse Grimes, A. G. Perry, D. C. Barrett, Henry 
Millard, Martin Parmer, J. D. Clements, B. B. Boyal, 
W. P. Plarris, E.- Waller, and W. Hanks, were the 
counsel elected out of the Consultation, to remain and 
co-operate with Governor Smith in carrying out the 
organic law. 

On the 25th of the same month, Gen Austin, having 
been notified of his new apj)ointment, turned over the 
command of the army before San Antonio, to Col. 
Edward Burleson, who had just been elected to sue- 




JT Yym^T^^^ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. IQl 

ceed him, and on the 30th, in person, made in sub- 
stance the following excellent Eeport to the Provis- 
ional Government: 

" I have the satisfaction to say that the patriotism 
which drew together the gallant volunteers now in 
service before Bexar and Fort Goliad is unabated. 
They left all the comforts and endearments of home to 
defend their constitutional rights, and the republican 
principles of the Federal System and Constitution of 
1824, and the vested rights of Texas under the law of 
the 7th of May of that year. Their basis is the Consti- 
tution and the Federal System. But should these be 
destroyed in Mexico, and the decree of the 3d of Oc- 
tober last, passed by the Central party (a copy of 
which is herewith presented), be carried into effect, 
and a Central and despotic government established, 
where all the authority is to be concentrated in one 
person, or in a few persons, in the city of Mexico, sus- 
tained by military and ecclesiastical power ; the volun- 
teer army will also, in that event, do their duty to 
their country, to the cause of liberty, and to them 
selves — as honor, patriotism, and the first law of 
nature may require. 

" That every people have the right to change their 
government, is unquestionable ; but it is equally certain 
and true, that this change, to be morally or politically 
obligatory, must be effected by the free expression of 



102 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the will of the community, and by legal and consti- 
tutional means; for otherwise the stability of gov- 
ernments and the rights of the people would be at 
the mercy of fortunate revolutionists — of violence or 
faction. 

" Admitting, therefore, that a Central and despotic 
or strong government is best adapted to the education 
and habits of a portion of the Mexican people, and 
that they wish it ; this does not, and cannot, give to 
them the right to dictate by unconstitutional means 
and force to the other portion, who have equal rights, 
and differ in opinion. 

"Had the change been effected by constitutional 
means, or had a National Convention been convened, 
and every member of the Confederacy been fairly re- 
presented, and a majority agreed to the change, it 
would have placed the matter on different ground ; 
but, even then, it would be monstrous to admit the 
principle, that the majority have the right to destroy 
the minority, for the reason that self-preservation is 
superior to all political obligations. That such a 
government as is contemplated by the before-mentioned 
decree of the 3d of October would destroy the peo- 
ple of Texas must be evident to all, when they consider 
its geographical situation, so remote from the contem- 
plated centre of legislation and power ; populated as 
it is by a people who are so different in education, 



HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 103 

habits, customs, language, and local wants, from all 
tlie rest of tlie nation ; and, especially, when a portion, 
of the Central j)arty have manifested violent religions 
and other prejudices and jealousies against them. But 
no National Convention was convened, and the Consti- 
tution has been, and now is, violated and disregarded. 

"The constitutional authorities of the State of 
Coahuila and Texas solemnly protested against the 
change of government, for which act they were driven 
by military force from office and imprisoned. The 
people of Texas protested against it, as they had a 
right to do, for which they have been declared rebels 
by the Grovernment in Mexico. 

'' However necessary, then, the basis established by 
the decree of the 3d of October may be to prevent 
civil wars and anarchy in other parts of Mexico, it is 
attempted to be effected by force and unconstitutional 
means. However beneficial it may be to some parts 
of Mexico, it would be ruinous to Texas. This view 
presents the whole subject to the people. If they 
submit to a forcible and unconstitutional destruction 
of the social compact which they have sworn to sup- 
port, they violate their oaths. H they submit to be 
tamely destroyed, they disregard their duty to them- 
selves, and violate the first law which Grod has stamped 
upon the heart of man, civilized or savage — which is 
the law or the right of self-preservation. 



104 EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 

"The decree of tlie 3d of October, therefore, if 
carried into effect, evidently leaves no remedy for 
Texas but resistance, secession from Mexico, and a 
direct resort to natural rights. 

" Such I believe to be the view which the volunteer 
army, lately under my command, has taken of this sub- 
ject; and such, in substance, the principles it is defend- 
ing, and will defend. That they are sound and just, 
and merit the approbation of all nations, I sincerely 
and conscientiously believe. 

" It may be out of place to speak of myself in such 
a communication as this, but I deem it right to say 
that I have faithfully labored for years to unite Texas 
permanently to the Mexican Confederation, by sepa- 
I'ating its local government and internal administration, 
so far as practicable, from every other part of Mexico, 
and placing it in the hands of the peoj^^vij of Texas, 
who are certainly best acquainted with their local 
wants, and could best harmonize in legislating for 
them. There was but one way to effect this union, 
with any hope of permanency or harmony, which was 
by erecting Texas into a State of the Mexican Cod- 
federation. Sound policy, and the true interest of the 
Mexican Republic, evidently required that this should 
be done. 

"The people of Texas desired it ; and if proofs were 
wanting (but they are not) of their fidelity to their 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 105 

obligations as Mexican citizens, this effort to erect 
Texas into a state aiEords one whicli is conclusive to 
every man of judgment wlio knows anything about 
this country ; for all such are convinced that Texas 
could not, and would not, remain united to Mexico 
without the right of self-government as a separate 
state. 

" The object of the Texans, therefore, in wishing a 
separation from Coahuila, and the erection of their 
country into a state, was to avoid a total separation 
from Mexico by a revolution. Neither Coahuila, nor 
any other portion of the Mexican nation, can legislate 
on the internal affairs of Texas : it is impossible. 
This country must either be a state of the Mexican 
Confederation, or must separate in toto, as an inde- 
pendent community, or seek protection from some 
power that recognizes the principles of self-govern- 
ment. I can see no remedy between one of these 
three positions and total rain. 

" I must particularly call the attention of the Pro- 
visional Government to the Volunteer Army now in 
the field. That their services have been, and now 
are, in the highest degree useful and important to 
Texas, is very evident. Had this army never crossed 
the Guadalupe — a movement which some have con- 
demned — the war would have been carried by the 

Centralists into the colonies, and the settlements on 
5-^ 



IQQ ' HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the Guadalupe and La Baca would probably have 
suffered, and perhaps have been broken up. The 
town of Gonzales had already been attacked, and 
many of the settlers were about to remove. 

" What effect such a state of things would have 
liad upon the moral standing and prospects of the 
country, although a matter of opinion, is worthy of 
mature consideration, more especially when it is con- 
sidered that, at the time, tke opinions of many were 
vacillating and unsettled, and much division prevailed. 
The Volunteer Army have also paralyzed the force of 
General Cos, so that it is shut up within the fortifica- 
tions of Bexar, incapable of any hostile movements 
whatever outside of the walls, and must shortly sur- 
render or be annihilated. The enemy has been beaten 
in every contest and skirmish, which has proved the 
superiority of the volunteers, and given confidence to 
every one. Our undisciplined volunteers, but few of 
whom were ever in the field before, have acquired 
some experience, and much confidence in each other 
and in themselves, and are much better prepared for 
organization, and to meet a formidable attack than 
they were before. 

" The post of Goliad has been taken by the volun- 
teers, and the enemy deprived of large supplies which 
were at that place, and of the facilities of j^rocuring 
others by water, through the port of Copano, which 



mSTORY OF TEXAS. 107 

is also closed upon them by the occupation of Goliad. 
The enemy has been driven fi'om the river Nueces by 
a detachment of the volunteers v^ho garrison Goliad, 
and by tlie patriotic sons of Ireland from Power's 
colony. More than one hundred of the enemy, in- 
cluding many officers, have been killed; a great 
many have been v^ounded, others have deserted, and 
a valuable piece of brass cannon, a six-pounder, has 
been taken, and another preserved (the one that was 
at Gonzales) from falling into the hands of the 
enemy. Three hundred head of horses have been 
taken, and the resources for sustaining an army in 
Bexar are all destroyed or exhausted, so that an 
enemy in that place is at this time more than three 
hundred miles from any supplies of bread-stujffi, and 
many other necessary articles. All this has been 
effected by the Volunteer Army in a little more than 
one month, and with the loss of only one man killed 
in battle, and one wounded (who has nearly recov- 
ered) before Bexar; one wounded at Goliad, and 
one at Lipantitlan, on the Nueces. In short, the 
moral and political influence of the campaign is 
equally beneficial to Texas and to the sacred cause of 
the Constitution and of liberty, and honorable to the 
Volunteer Army. This army is composed, principally, 
of the most intelligent, respectable, and wealthy 
citizens of the country ; and of volunteers from 



108 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Louisiana and Alabama — men who have taken up 
arms from principle, from a sense of duty, and from 
the purest motives of patriotism and philanthropy. 
They have bravely sustained the rights of Texas and 
the cause of Mexican liberty, and patiently borne 
the exposure and fatigue of a winter's campaign 
during the most inclement, wet, and cold spell of 
weather known in this country for many years. The 
most of them are men of families, whose loss would 
have made a fearful void in our thin community. 
They might have been precipitated upon the fortifica- 
tions of Bexar, which were defended by seven or eight 
hundred men and a number of cannon, and taken the 
place by storm against superior numbers ; and Texas 
might, and in all probability would, have been cov- 
ered Avith mourning in the hour of victory. On con- 
sultation with the officers in council of war, it was 
deemed most prudent not to hazard so much in the 
commencement of the contest, when a disaster would 
have been so materially injurious ; and the system was 
adopted of wasting away the resources, and spirits, 
and numbers of the enemy by a siege, the ultimate 
success of which appeared to be certain, without any 
serious hazard on our part. That the fall of Bexar 
within a short time, and with a very little loss, will 
be the result, I have no doubt. 

"I consider the Volunteer Army to be the main 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 109 

hope of Texas at this time, and until a regular army 
can be organized ; and I recommend that it be sus- 
tained and provided for in the most effectual and 
efficient manner. 

" Before closing this communication, I deem it to be 
my duty to recommend to the consideration of the 
Provisional Grovernment the situation of the inhabi- 
tants of Bexar and Groliad. The necessary and indis- 
pensable operations of the war have compelled the 
army to make use of a considerable amount of their 
property, particularly corn and beef cattle. So soon 
as circumstances will permit, I respectfully recom- 
mend that some system be adopted to ascertain the 
amount of property thus used, and to provide for a 
just compensation. This recommendation also extends 
to horses or other property lost by the Volunteers. 

" I will present to government another report on a 
special subject of importance." 

" In the other report of Mr. Austin alluded to, he 
advised the calling of a convention, with plenary 
powers, and is as follows : 

"At the time of the former elections, the people 
did not and could not fully understand their true situ- 
ation; for it was not known then, to a certainty, 
what changes would take place in Mexico, what kind 
of government would be established, or what course 
would be pursued towards Texas. It was only known 



110 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

then tliat the Central party was in power, that all its 
measures tended to the destruction of the Federal 
system, and that preparations were making to invade 
Texas. 

" But, at the present time, the people know that the 
government is changed — that Centralism is estab- 
lished by the decree of the 3d of October last, and 
that they are threatened with annihilation. In short, 
the whole picture is now clearly before their view, and 
they see the dangers that are hanging over them. Can 
these dangers be averted by a provisional organization 
which is based upon a declaration that is equivocal 
and liable to different constructions ? Does not the 
situation of the country require a more fixed and 
stable state of things ? In short, is it not necessary 
that Texas should now say in plain, and positive, and 
unequivocal language, what is the position she occu- 
pies, and will occupy; and can such a declaration be 
made without a new and direct resort to the people, 
by calling, as speedily as possible, a convention with 
plenary powers, based upon the principle of equal re- 
presentation in proportion to the population ? 

" These are questions of the most vital importance. 
I respectfully submit them to the calm deliberation of 
the Provisional Government, in the full confidence 
that all the attention will be given to the subject 
which its importance merits. 



SI8T0RT OF TEXAS. HX 

" Witliont expressing any individual opinion of my 
own as to the time or day when the new elections 
ought to take place, which would, perhaps, be inde- 
corous in such a communication as this, the object of 
which is to lay facts before the Provisional Govern- 
ment, I deem it to be my duty to say, that so far as I 
could judge of the opinions and wishes of the citizens 
who were in the Volunteer Army when I left them 
on the 25th ult., they were in favor of an immediate 
election of a convention with plenary power." 

In all probability, had the Consultation made a 
declaration of independence., framed a Constitution^ 
and ordered an election for officers under it, Mr. 
Austin would have been satisfied. The decree so 
often alluded to in the foregoing pages is as follows : 

[Decree of the 3d of October, 1835.] 

" Ofice of tlie First Secretary of State, 
Interior Department. 

"His Excellency the President, j97'(9 tern., of the Mexi- 
can United States to the Inhabitants of the Eepub- 
lic. Know ye, that the General Congress has 
decreed the following : 

"Art. 1. The present governors of the states shall 
continue, notwithstanding the time fixed by the Con- 
stitution may have expired ; but shall be dependent 



112 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

for tlieir continuance in the exercise of their attri- 
butes upon the Supreme Government of the nation. 

"Art. 2. The legislatures shall immediately cease 
to exercise their legislative functions : but before 
dissolving (and those which may be in recess meet- 
ing for the purpose), they shall appoint a Department 
Council, composed, for the present, of five individuals, 
chosen either within or without their own body, to 
act as a council to the governor ; and in case of a 
vacancy in that office, they shall propose to the 
Supreme General Government three persons possessing 
the qualifications hitherto required: and until an 
appointment be made, the gubernatorial powers shall 
be exercised by the first on the list who is not an 
ecclesiastic. 

"Art. 8. In those states where the legislature can- 
not be assembled within eight days, the Ayuntamiento 
of the capital shall act in his place, only for the 
purpose of electing the five individuals of the Depart- 
ment Council. 

"Art. 4. All the judges and tribunals of the 
states, and the administration of justice, shall con- 
tinue as hitherto, until the organic law relative to 
this branch be formed. The responsibilities of the 
functionaries which could only be investigated before 
Congress, shall be referred to, and concluded before 
the Supreme Court of the nation. 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 1X3 

"Aet. 5. All tlie subaltern officers of the state 
sliall also continue for tlie present (the places which 
are vacant, or which maybe vacated, not to be filled), 
but they, as well as the officers, revenues, and 
branches under their charge, remain subject to, and 
at the disposal of, the Supreme Government of the 
nation, by means of the respective governors. 

"Palace of the Federal Government in Mexico, 
October 3d, 1835. 

"Maguil Baeragan, 

"A. D, Manuel Diez de Bonilla." 

General Austin gained but little glory as a mili- 
tary man. His great, big heart was too tender to see 
men bleed and die without pain ; and then each one 
of the volunteer army was his dear friend. 

" I am afraid," he wrote to Captain Dimit, on the 
2d of November, " that our future operations will be 
tedious and prolonged, owing to the strength of the 
fortifications at this place, of which we have certain 
information. Whether the army can be kept together 
long enough to await the arrival of reinforcements, 
and the necessary supply of heavy battering-cannon 
and ammunition, I am sorry to say, is somewhat 
uncertain." 

At one time he had 1,000 men before San Antonio, 
after this he was joined by the Neio Oi'leans Grays 



114 ' HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

and English's company from Eastern Texas, so that 
had all remained he would have had 1,300 men with 
which to have taken the place by assault. But he 
felt sure of it in the end, and would not order an 
assault for fear of losing a few precious lives, so the 
men became impatient of camp life and wanted to go 
home. Kusk and Travis would enthuse them occa- 
sionally by dashing up with them near the forti- 
fications, but the cold weather and rains set in and 
they loent home. They wei'e mostly farmers with fami- 
lies, and had joined the army in a hurry, with their 
summer clothes on — it had turned cold, so they went 
home to see their families and to get winter clothes. 

"The men," says Kennedy, "wearied with idly 
gazing at the walls of the beleaguered to'wn, impor- 
tuned the general to order an immediate assault. 
One day, and then another, were successively named 
for indulging their ardor, but nothing was done ; and 
on the evening of the 4th of December, the order 
was given to break uj) the camp and retire into winter 
quarters." 

This order was received by the majority of the 
500 remaining troops with regret and chagrin. 

Yoakum v»aites : " It was then," says an eye-witness, 
" that the scene was wholly indescribable, and serious 
apprehensions were entertained that our camp would 
become the theatre of blood." 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. II5 

Some wislied to obey tlie order and raise the siege, 
while others were eager for an attack. 

At the height of the excitement glorious old Ben 
Milam cried out, at the top of his voice : " Who ivill 
go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio ? " 

This inquiry was answered joyously and instantly 
by 300 volunteers, whom, with the approbation of 
the commanding general, Burleson, he organized into 
two divisions, one of which he commanded in person, 
while the other was led by Colonel Frank Johnson, 
one of t\iQ proscribed. 

General Cos had about 800 men in the Alamo and 
the Plazas — an oblong square surrounded by stone 
houses and separated by the church and houses north 
and south of it. Solidad, Acequia, and Flores Streets 
run into the Plazas from the north, and were for- 
tified by cannon and barricades where they entered 
the Plazas — named Main and Military, the latter 
west, the former east of the church. 

Having sent Colonel J. C. Neill with a party to 
make a feint attack upon the Alamo, Colonel Milam 
and Johnson with 300 men and two cannon, before 
day on the morning of the 5th, entered the city and 
made lodgments in two famous buildings known as 
the Veramandi and Garza houses, about one hundred 
yards apart, the former east of Solidad, the latter 
east of Acequia Streets. The following despatch, 



116 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

signed by B. R. Milam and Edward Burleson, and 
dated 6tli December, 1835, was sent to the Provisional 
Government at San Filipe : 

"Yesterday morning, at daylight, or rather some 
twenty minutes before. Colonel Milam, with a party 
of about 300 volunteers, made an assault upon the 
town of Bexar. His party he distributed in two 
divisions, which, on entering the town, took pos- 
session of two buildings near each other — near the 
place where they have been ever since battling with 
the enemy. They have so far had a fierce contest, the 
enemy offering a strong and obstinate resistance. The 
houses occupied by us command some of the cannon 
in the place, or have silenced them entirely, as it is 
reported to us. The issue is doubtful^ of course. 
Ugartechea is on the way, with considerable re- 
inforcements; how near has not yet been exactly 
ascertained ; but certainly he is not more than from 
fifty to sixty miles off. This express has been 
despatched for an immediate supply of ammunition, 
as much powder and lead as can possibly be sent 
instantly. Of the first-mentioned article, there is none 
beyond the cannon cartridges already made up. I 
hope that good mules, or horses, will be procured to 
send on these articles with the greatest possible speed, 
travelling night and day, for there is not a moment to 
be lost. Reinforcements of men are, perhaps, indis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 117 

pensable to our salvation. I liope every exertion will 
be made to force them to our relief immediately." 

In his official report of the storming of San Antonio, 
Colonel Johnson says : 

"At seven o'clock a heavy cannonading from the 
town was seconded by a well-directed lire from the 
Alamo, which for a time prevented the possibility of 
covering our lines, or effecting a safe communication 
between the two divisions. In consequence of the 
twelve-pounder having been dismounted, and the want 
of proper cover for the other gun, little execution was 
done by our artillery during the day. We were, there- 
fore, reduced to a close and well-directed fire from 
our rifles, which, notwithstanding the advantageous 
position of the enemy, obliged them to slacken their 
fire, and several times to abandon their artillery with- 
in range of our shot. Our loss during the day was 
one private killed ; one colonel and one first-lieutenant 
severely wounded ; one colonel slightly, three privates 
dangerously, six severely, and three slightly. During 
the whole of the night (of the 5th) the two divisions 
were occupied in strengthening their positions, open- 
ing trenches, and effecting a safe communication, 
although exposed to a heavy cross-fire from the enemy, 
which slackened towards morning. I may remark 
that the want of proper tools rendered this under- 
taking doubly arduous. 



2] 8 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

"At dayliglit of tlie 6tli the enemy were observed 
to Lave occupied the tops of the houses in our front, 
where, under cover of breast-works, they opened 
through loop-holes a very brisk fire of small arms on 
our whole line, followed by a steady cannonading from 
the town, in front, and from the Alamo on the left 
flank, with few interruptions during the day. A de- 
tachment of Captain Crane's company, under Lieuten- 
ant W. McDonald, followed by others, gallantly pos- 
sessed themselves, under a severe fire, of the house to 
the right, and in advance of the first division, which 
considerably extended our line ; while the rest of the 
army was occupied in returning the enemy's fire and 
strengthening our trenches, which enabled our artil- 
lery to do some execution, and complete a safe com- 
munication from right to left. Our loss this day 
amounted to^hree privates severely wounded and two 
slightly.* During the night the fire from the enemy 
was inconsiderable, and our people were occupied in 
making and filling sand-bags, and otherwise strength- 
ening our lines. 

"At daylight on the 7th it was discovered that the 
enemy had, during the night previous, opened a trench 
on the Alamo side of the river, and on the left flank, 

* The late Thomas W. Ward lost a leg here, and was afterwards nick -named 
Old Peg-Leg. Hon. Sam. A. Maverick and J. W. Smith did good service in 
this storming party. 



HIST OB Y OF TEXAS. ii^ 

as well as strengthened their battery on the cross 
street leading to the Alamo. From the first, they opened 
a brisk fire of small arms ; from the last, a heavy can-, 
nonade, as well as small arms, which was kept up un- 
til eleven o'clock, when they were silenced by our 
superior fire. About twelve o'clock, Henry Karnes,* 
of Capt. York's company, exposed to a heavy fire from 
the enemy, gallantly advanced to a house in front of 
the first division; and, with a crow-bar, forced an en- 
trance, through which the whole company immediately 
followed him, and made a secure lodgment. In the 
evening, the enemy renewed a heavy fire from all the 

* Henry Karnes was one of those remarkable characters whose true 
history is a romance. He was raised in Tennessee. At an early age he 
joined a company of Arkansas trappers, who turned their attention to 
attacks on the Pawnee villages on the head-branches of Red Riyer ; but, hav- 
ing disagreed, they separated. Karnes, with three or four others, proceeded 
across to the head of the Trinity. Here, having their horses stolen, they 
obtained a canoe, and floated down the river to Robbins's Ferry. Karnes 
procured employment at Groce's Retreat, where the war found him. He 
entered the Texan service, and fought with a hearty good-will. One who 
was often with him, and by his side at Concepcion, says he never knew him 
to swear before or since that day. But when he came into the lines, after 
being shot at so often, and began to load his rifle, he exclaimed with some 
wrath, ' ' The d d rascals have shot out the bottom of my powder- 
horn ! " Karnes rose to the rank of colonel in Texas. He was of 
low stature, and weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds ; was quiet, 
sober, and temperate, and had an effeminate voice. He was wholly illiterate, 
yet he had remarkable gentleness and delicacy of feeling, and was otherwise 
amiable in private life. He died at San Antonio, in August, 1840, surrounded 
by his numerous friends. — Yoakum. 



120 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

positions wliicli could bear upon us, and at about half- 
past three o'clock, as our gallant commander, Colonel 
Milam, was passing into the yard of my position (the 
house of Berimendi) he received a rifle shot in the 
head, which caused his instant death — an irreparable 
loss at so critical a moment. Our casualties other- 
wise, during the day, were only two privates slightly 
wounded. 

" At a meeting of officers, held at seven o'clock, I 
was invested with the chief command, with Major 
Morris as my second. Captains Llewellyn, English, 
Crane, and Landrum, with their respective compa- 
nies, forced their way into, and took possession of 
the house of Don J. Antonio Navarro, an advanced 
and important position close to the square. The fire 
of the enemy became interrupted and slack during 
the whole night, and the weather exceedingly cold 
and wet. 

" The morning of the 8th continued cold and wet, 
and but little firing on either side. At nine o'clock, 
the same companies who took possession of Don J. 
Antonio Navarro's house, aided by a detachment of 
the G rays, advanced and occupied the Zambrano Row, 
leading to the Square, without any accident. The 
brave conduct on this occasion of William Graham, of 
Cook's company of Grays, merits mention. A heavy 
fire of artillery and small arms was opened on this 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 121 

position by tlie enemy, wlio disputed ev^ery incli of 
ground, and after suffering a severe loss in officers 
and men, were obliged to retire from to room to room, 
until they evacuated the whole building. During 
this time, our men were reinforced by a detachment 
from York's company, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant Gill. The cannonading was exceedingly heavy 
from all quarters during the day, but did no essential 
damage. Our loss consisted of one captain seriously 
wounded and two privates severely. At seven o'clock, 
P.M., the party in Zambrano's Row were reinforced by 
Captains Swisher, Alley, Edwards, and Duncan, and 
'their respective companies. 

"This evening we had undoubted information of 
the arrival of a strong reinforcement to the enemy, 
under Colonel Ugartechea. At half-past ten o'clock, 
P.M., Captains Cook and Patton, with the comjoany of 
New Orleans Grays* and a company of Brazoria 
Volunteers, forced their way into the priest's house 
in the square, although exposed to the fire of a battery 

* " The appearance of the Grays at Nacogdoches on. their way to San An- 
tonia, " says the late Adolphus Sterne, ' ' had a fine effect on the Cherokee Indi- 
ans, a large number of whom were then in town. Their fine uniform caps and 
coats attracted the notice of the chief, BoUes. He inquired if they were 
JacJcsoii's men. ' Certainly they are,' said Sterne. 'Are there more com- 
ing?' — 'Yes,' was the reply. 'How many more?' asked Bolles. Sterne 
told him to count the hairs on his head, and he would know. In twenty , 
minutes the Indians had all left the town I " 

6 



]^22 ' HLSTOBY OF TEXAS. 

of tliree guns and a large body of musqueteers. Be- 
fore this, however, the division was reinforced from 
the reserve by Captains Cheshire, Lewis, and Suther- 
land, and their companies. 

" Immediately after we got possession of the priest's 
house, the enemy opened a furious cannonade from 
all their batteries, accompanied by incessant volleys 
of small arms, against every house in oui* possession, 
and every part of our lines, which continued unceas- 
ingly until half -past six o'clock a.m. of the 9 th, when 
they sent a flag of truce, with an intimation that they 
desired to capitulate. Our loss in tKis night's attack, 
consisted of one man only, dangerously wounded, 
while in the act of spiking a cannon." 

On the morning of the 10th, Gen. Cos surrendered, 
and on the 14th set out for the Rio Grande, with 1,105 
troops, the remainder of his army, which amounted to 
about 1,400, having concluded to remain in San 
Antonio. 

Thus by the heroism of Milam and his comrades 
was the stronghold of the Mexicans in Texas taken, 
but at the loss of that gallant soldier, the brave 
Milam. 

Often have I entered the Old Yeramandi and asked : 
" Where is MilairCs grave f " but no one ever answered 
the question, and unless some of his comrades in this 
brilliant achievement shall return to the place of his 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. ^23 

glory, and mark the ''^ grave loJiere our hero they 
hurled^'' it will be unknown to future generations. 

With the capture of San Antonio ended the cam- 
paign of 1835. In a little more than two months 
every hostile Mexican had been driven from the soil 
of Texas, with but very slight loss. Col. Johnson, 
with a small garrison, remained at San Antonio, while 
the majority of the little army went home. In the 
language of the English historian of Texas : " They 
had toiled, and su:ffered, and fought, like men to whom 
the fairest fields and the brightest skies are valueless 
and cheerless, without the invigorating exercise of 
their constitutional rights. With the degenerate races 
of the Southjliberty was but a poetical abstraction — the 
catch-word of the intriguing demagogue — the war-cry 
of the ambitious soldier : with the Ansrlo -Americans 
it was a substantial inheritance — dear to them as 
the memory of their ancestors — essential to their 
social progress as the air of heaven to their physical 
existence. It was the spirit of independence that stim- 
ulated the Northern husbandmen to turn their faces 
toward, the sun of the tropic, and sustained them 
amidst trials of which the pampered inhabitants of 
the cities of the old world can form no conception. 
The charter which had hitherto protected and encour- 
aged the settlers — the Mexican Constitution of 1824 
■ — ^had been violated; the armed partisan had usurped 



224 EISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the seat oftlie judge; drum-head decisions had been 
substituted for the awards of law, and the colonists 
were left to choose between resistance, with its danger, 
and submission, with its disgrace. They made their 
election with a full perception of the consequences it 
might involve, and staked life and land in defence of 
their chartered liberties. Their first essay in the field 
was astonishingly successful; and the storming of 
Bexar will rank among the most remarkable feats of 
chivalrous daring. To what did they owe their suc- 
cess ? Not to the arts of professional soldiership, for 
of these they were ignorant ; not to numerical strength, 
for they were comparatively few — ill-armed, ill-clad, 
and ill-fed. In their moral organization — in the proud 
sense of their superiority, as instructed freemen, over 
the puppets of ignorant and intolerant misrule, lay 
the secret of their triumphs." 



CHAPTER V. 

Tlie Pko VISIONAL Government and the Genekal Council. — Gen. Hous- 
ton's Proclamation. — ^Dr. James Grant and the Matamoras/ever. — Gen. 
Mexia's Expedition to Tampico. — Cols. Fannin and Johnson made 
Agents and supersede Gen. Houston. — His Report. — Treaty with the In- 
dians. — Capture of the Hannah Elizabeth by the William Robhins. — 
Col. Tom McKinney. — Austin borrows $250,000. — The Convention at 
Washington. — Declaration of Independence, and Government ad interim. 

^ I ^HE Provisional Government of Texas, v^Mcli ex- 
isted only about four months, was not a success. 
Tlie governor and Council soon fell out, and the 
Council passed a resolution deposing Gov. Smith and 
placing in his stead the lieut. -governor. 

In less than a month after its inauguration it was 
openly declared that " the existing authorities were 
not equal to the crisis; that the officers and the mem- 
bers of the council were worthless and imbecile ; and 
that it was necessary forthwith to reorganize the 
government and give it a more energetic administra- 
tion, in order to save the country from ruin." 

Gen. Houston sided with the governor, but gave 
his powerful aid on the stump and in the Council for 
the support and continuance of the administration. 

Before the news of the storming of San Antonio 
arrived, in his official capacity he issued the following; 



12Q HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Proclamation of Sam Houston, Gommander-in- Chief 
of the Army of Texas. 

Headquarters, Washington, Texas, December 12, 1835. 

CiTizE]N-s OF Texas : Your situation is peculiarly- 
calculated to call forth all your manly energies. Under 
the republican constitution of Mexico you were in- 
vited to Texas, tlien a wilderness. You have reclaimed 
and rendered it a cultivated country. You solemnly 
swore to support the constitution and its laws. Your 
oaths are yet inviolate. In accordance therewith you 
have fought with the liberals against those who sought 
to overthrow the constitution in 1832, when the 
present usurper was the champion of liberal princi- 
ples in Mexico. Your obedience has manifested your 
integrity. You have witnessed with pain the convul- 
sions of the interior, and a succession of usurpations. 
You have experienced in silent grief the expulsion of 
your members elect from the State Congress. 

You have realized the horrors of anarchy and the 
dictation of military rule. The promises made to you 
have not been fulfilled. Your memorials for the re- 
dress of grievances have been disregarded ; and the 
agents you have sent to Mexico have been imprisoned 
for years, without enjoying the rights of trial agree- 
ably to law. Your constitutional executive has been 
deposed by the bayonets of a mercenary soldiery, while 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 127 

your Congress has been dissolved by violence, and its 
members either fled or were arrested by the military 
force of the country. The federation has been dis- 
solved, the constitution declared at an end, and cen- 
tralism has been established. Amid all these trying 
vicissitudes, you remained loyal to the duty of citizens, 
with a hope that liberty would not perish in the 
Republic of Mexico. But while you were fondly 
cherishing this hope, the dictator required the sur- 
render of the arms of the civic militia, that he might 
be enabled to establish on the ruins of the constitu- 
tion, a system of policy which would forever enslave 
the people of Mexico. Zacatecas, unwilling to yield 
her sovereignty to the demand which struck at the root 
of all liberty, refused to disarm her citizens of their 
private arms. Ill-fated state ! Her power as well as 
her wealth aroused the ambition of Santa Anna, and 
excited his cupidity. Her citizens became the first 
victims of his cruelty, while her wealth was sacrificed 
in payment for the butchery of her citizens. The suc- 
cess of the usurper determined him in exacting from 
the people of Texas submission to the central form of 
government ; and, to enforce his plan of despotism, he 
dispatched a military force to invade the colonies, and 
exact the arms of the inhabitants. The citizens re- 
fused the demand, and the invading force was in- 
creased. The question then was, " Shall we resist the 



128 HI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. . 

oppression and live free, or violate our oat"hs and bear 
a despot's stripes ? " Tlie citizens of Texas rallied to 
tlie defence of their rights. They have met four to 
one, and, by their chivalry and courage, have van- 
quished the enemy with a gallantry and spirit which 
is characteristic of the justice of our cause. 

The army of the people is now before Bexar, 
besieging the central army within its wall. Though 
called together at the moment, the citizens of Texas, 
unprovided as they were in the necessary munitions of 
war and supplies for an army, have maintained a siege 
for months. Always patient and untiring in their 
patriotism and zeal in the cause of liberty, they have 
borne every vicissitude of season and every incident of 
the soldier with a contempt of peril which reflects im- 
mortal honor on the members of the army of the people. 

Since our army has been in the field, a consultation 
of the people by their representatives, has met, and 
established a provisional government. This course has 
grown out of the emergencies of the country ; the army 
has claimed its peculiar care. We are without law, 
and without a constitutional head. The provisional 
executive and the general council of Texas are earnest- 
ly engaged in the discharge of their respective duties, 
preparing for every exigency of the country ; and I am 
satisfied, from their zeal, ability, and patriotism, that 
Texas will have everything to hope, from their exer- 



HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. X29 

tions in behalf of the principles wliicli we have 
avowed. 

A regular army has been created, and liberal en- 
couragement has been given by the government. To 
all who will enlist for two years, or during the war, 
a bounty of twenty-four dollars and eight hundred 
acres of land will be given. Provision has also been 
made for raising an auxiliary volunteer corps, to con- 
stitute part of the army of Texas, which will be 
placed under the command, and subject to the orders 
of the commander-in-chief. The field for promotion 
will be open. The terms of service will be various. 
To those who tender their services for, or during the 
war, will be given a bounty of six hundred and forty 
acres of land ; an equal bounty will be given to those 
who volunteer their services for two years ; if for one 
year, a bounty of three hundred and twenty acres ; 
and to those who may volunteer for a shorter period, 
no bounty of land will be given, but the same liberal 
pay, rations, etc., will be allowed them as other mem- 
bers of the army. The rights of citizenship are ex- 
tended to all who will unite with us in defending the 
republican principles of the constitution of 1824. 

Citizens of Texas, your rights must be defended. 
The oppressors must be driven from our soil. Sub- 
mission to the laws and union among ourselves will 

render us invincible ; subordination and discipline in 
6* 



]30 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

our army will guarantee to lis victory and renown. 
Our invader lias sworn to exterminate us, or sweep us 
from the soil of Texas. He is vigilant in his work of 
oppression, and has ordered to Texas ten thousand 
men to enforce the unhallowed purposes of his am- 
bition. His letters to his subalterns in Texas have 
been intercepted, and his plans for our destruction are 
disclosed. Departing from the chivalric principles of 
civilized warfare, he has ordered arms to be distrib- 
uted to ajyortion of our jyopulatioii^ for the purpose 
of creating in the midst of us a servile war. The 
hopes of the usurper were inspired by a belief that 
the citizens of Texas were disunited and divided in 
opinion ; that alone has been the cause of the present 
invasion of our rights. He shall realize the fallacy of 
his hopes in the union of her citizens, and their etee- 
NAL RESISTANCE to his plaus agalust constitutional lib- 
erty. We will enjoy our bii'thright, or perish in its 
defence. 

The services of five thousand volunteers will be ac- 
cepted. By the first of March next we must meet the 
enemy with an army worthy of our cause, and which 
will reflect honor u]3on freemen. Our habitations 
must be defended ; the sanctity of our hearths and 
firesides must be preserved from pollution. Liberal 
Mexicans will unite with us. Our countrymen in the 
field liave presented 'an example worthy of imitation. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 131 

GreneroTis and brave hearts from a land of freedom 
liave joined our standard before Bexar. Tliey have, 
by their heroism and valor, called forth the admira- 
tion of their comrades in arms, and have reflected 
additional honor on the land of their birth. Let the 
brave rally to our standard. 

Sam Hoijston, 
Oominander -in- Chief of the Arm,y. 

But notiwthstanding his efforts the governor and 
the Council kept; on at war, one great dause of which 
was a plan for the capture of Matamoras, which origi- 
nated with one Dr. Grant, who was one of the storm- 
ing party that entered San Antonio on the 8th Decem- 
ber, and was wounded seriously on the first day of the 
contest. 

Grant was a man of wealth, and lived in the interior 
of Mexico, and was very plausible in representing the 
facility with which Matamoras, with all its wealth, 
might be taken, " and thence," according to Yoakum, 
carrying the war "into the interior of Mexico, that he 
might return to his princely domains at Parras. 
Among the volunteers and adventurers at San Antonio 
he was incessantly painting in lively colors the rich 
spoils of Tamaulipas, New Leon, Coahuila, and San 
Luis Potosi, the facility of the descent, the cowardly 
nature of the inhabitants, and the charming beauties 



132 HISTORY OF TEX A3. . 

of the valleys of the San Juan, tlie Sabinas, and the 
Santander. 

"This was enough: the bold and fiery spirits who 
had just driven twice their number from the strong walls 
of Bexar and the Alamo, were ready to go. They 
wanted but a leader and a cause. The authority of 
Texas was invoked. The governor was prudent, and 
preferred to follow the landmarks laid down by the 
Consultation. The Council was otherwise. This body, 
changing almost daily, contained but few of the 
original menibers, and the change had not been 
for the better, in either wisdom or integrity. They 
had ceased to feel any responsibility for their official 
conduct." 

Dr. Grant, as did also the Mexican General 
Mexia, declared that the inhabitants of Matamoras 
and the interior of Mexico were opposed to the central- 
ism of Santa Anna as much as Texans were, and, as a 
matter of course, would join hands and hearts with 
them on their approach, and was so successful that 
he not only made followers in the army at San Anto- 
nio, but also carried with him. the Council and many 
good Texans. 

Gen, Houston opposed this movement, and in order 
to counteract it sent the following order to Colonel 
James Bowie : 



HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. I33 

" [Army Orders.] Headquarters, San Felipe, Deeeniber 17, 1835. 

" SiE : In obedience to tlie order of his Excellency 
Henry Smith, Governor of Texas, of this date, I have 
the honor to direct that, in the event you can obtain 
the services of a sufficient number of men for the pur- 
pose, you will forthwith proceed on the route to Mata- 
moras, and, if possible, reduce the place and retain 
possession until further orders. Should you not find 
it within your power to attain an object so desirable 
as the reduction of Matamoras, you will, by all possi- 
ble means, conformably to the rules of civilized war- 
fare, annoy the troops of the central army; and reduce 
and keep possession of the most eligible position on 
the frontier, using the precaution which characterizes 
your mode of warfare. You will conduct the cam- 
paign. Much is referred to your discretion. Should 
you commence the campaign, you will, from time to 
time, keep the government advised of your operations, 
through the commander-in-chief of the army. Under 
any circumstances, the port of Copano is important. 

" If any officers or men, who have at any time been 
released on parole^ should be taken in arms, they will 
be proper subjects for the consideration of a court- 
martial. Great caution is necessary in the country of 
an enemy. 

*''Sam Houston", 

^'' Commander -in- Chief y 



X34 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

On the 14t]i December, twenty-elglit surviving mem- 
bers of the ill-fated expedition fitted out at New 
Orleans, under the auspices of General Mexia, num- 
bering 130 men, which sailed to Tampico in November, 
having been deserted by their God-and-Liberty-loving- 
Greaser-commander, after a drum-head trial and con- 
viction, were shot to death. . 

On the 7th of January the Council created Col. J. 
W. Fannin agent^ with plenary powers to . organize a 
force and reduce Matamoras, with liberty to report to 
the commanding general, the governor, or the Council, 

Soon after this. Col. F. W. Johnson was also com- 
missioned for the same purpose. 

On the 6th, Gov. Smith ordered Gen. Houston " to 
repair to Bexar, or such other point on the frontier as 
he might deem most eligible, and establish his head- 
quarters; also to establish such subordination, and 
place the army in such situation, as to commence 
active operations by the earliest day possible ; and in 
the meantime, to annoy and injure the enemy as 
much as circumstances would permit." 

Starting on the 8th, Gen. Houston arrived at Goliad 
on the 16th. From thence he went to Befugio, where, 
on the 21st, Col. F. W. Johnson exhibited to him his 
powers from the Council, and also made him acquainted 
with those of Col. Fannin, whereupon, considering him 
self superseded, he returned through Goliad to Wash- 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 135 

iiigton, and on the SOtli made the following report to 
Grov. SDiitli: 

" To Governor Henry Smith, 

" MxnsriciPALiTY of WASHmoTON, January 30, 1836. 

" SiE : I liave tlie honor to report to yon that, in 
obedience to yonr order nnder date of the 6th inst., I 
left Washington on the 8 th, and reached Goliad on 
the night of the 14th. On the morning of that day I 
met Captain Dimit, on his return home with his com- 
mand, who reported to me the fact that his cahallada 
of horses (the most of them private property) had 
been pressed by Dr. Grant, who styled himself acting 
commander-in-chief of the federal army, and that he 
had nnder his command about two hundred men. 
Captain Dimit had been relieved by Captain P. S. 
Wyatt, of the volunteers from Huntsville, Alabama. 
I was also informed by Major E,. C. Morris that bread- 
stuff was wanted in camp ; and he suggested his wish 
to remove the volunteers farther west. By express, 
I had advised the stay of the troops at Goliad until I 
could reach that point. 

" On my arrival at that post, I found them destitute 
of many supplies necessary to their comfort on a cam- 
paign. An express reached me from Lieutenant- 
Colonel Neill, of Bexar, of an expected attack from 
the enemy in force. I immediately requested Colonel 



136 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

James Bowie to marcli with a detachment of volun- 
teers to his relief. He met the request with his usual 
promptitude and manliness. This intelligence I for- 
warded to your excellency, for the action of govern- 
ment. With a hope that supplies had or would imme- 
diately reach the port of Copano, I ordered the troops, 
through Major E,. C. Morris, to proceed to Kefugio 
mission, where it was reported there would be an 
abundance of beef — ^leaving Captain Wyatt and his 
command, for the present, in possession of Goliad, or 
until he could be relieved by a detachment of regulars 
under the command of Lieutenant Thornton, and some 
recruits that had been enlisted by Captain Ira West- 
over. On the arrival of the troops at Kefugio, I 
ascertained that no breadstuffs could be obtained, nor 
was there any intelligence of supplies reaching Copa- 
no, agreeably to my expectations, and in accordance 
with my orders of the 30th of December and 6th of 
January inst., directing the landing and concentrating 
of all the volunteers at Copano. I had also advised 
Colonel A. Houston, the quartermaster-general, to for- 
ward the supplies he might obtain at New Orleans to 
the same point. Not meeting the command of Major 
Ward, as I had hoped from the early advice I had sent 
him by Major George W. Poe, I determined to await 
his arrival and the command of Captain Wyatt. 
With a view to be in a state of readiness to march to 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. I37 

tlie scene of active operations at tlie first moment that 
my force, and the supplies necessary, could reach me, 
I ordered Lieutenant Thornton with his command 
(total twenty-nine) to Goliad, to relieve Captain 
Wyatt; at the same time ordering the latter to join 
the volunteers at Refugio. I found much difficulty in 
prevailing on the regulars to march until they had re- 
ceived either money or clothing ; and their situation 
was truly destitute. Had I not succeeded, the station 
at Goliad must have been left without any defence, 
and abandoned to the enemy, whatever importance 
its occupation may be to the security of the fron- 
tier. Should Bexar remain a military post, Goliad 
must be maintained, or the former will be cat off 
from all supplies arriving by sea at the port of 
Copano. 

" On the evening of the 20th, F. W. Johnson, Esq., 
arrived at Eefugio, and it was understood that he was 
empowered by the General Council of Texas to inter- 
fere in my command. On the 21st, and previous to 
receiving notice of his arrival, I issued an order to 
organize the troops so soon as they might arrive at 
that place, agreeably to the ' ordinance for raising an 
auxiliary corps ' to the army. A copy of the order I 
have the honor to enclose herewith. Mr. Johnson 
then called on nie, previous to the circulation of the 
order, and showed me the resolutions of the General 



138 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Council, dated 14tli of January, a copy of wLicli I 
forward for the perusal of your excellency. 

" So soon as I was made acquainted with the nature 
of his mission, and the powers granted to J. W, 
Fannin, Jr., I could not remain mistaken as to the 
object of the Council, or the wishes of individuals. 
I had but one course left for me to pursue (the 
report of your being deposed had also reached me), 
which was, to return, and report myself to you in 
person — inasmuch as the objects intended by your 
order were, by the extraordinary conduct of the 
Council, rendered useless to the country; and, by 
remaining with the army, the Council would have 
had the pleasure of ascribing to me the e^dls which 
their own conduct and acts will, in all probability, 
produce. I do consider the acts of the Council calcu- 
lated to protract the war for years to come ; and the 
field which they have opened to insubordination, and 
to agencies without limit (unknown to military usage), 
will cost the country more useless expenditure than 
the necessary expense of the whole war would have 
been had they not transcended their proj)er duties. 
Without integrity of purpose, and well-devised meas- 
ures, our whole frontier must be exposed to the 
enemy. All the available resources of Texas are 
directed through sj^ecial as well as general agencies, 
against Matamoras; and must, in all probability, 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 139 

prove as unavailing to tlie interest as tliey will to tlie 
honor of Texas. The regulars at Goliad cannot long- 
be detained at that station, unless they should get 
supplies; and now all the resources of Texas are 
placed in the hands of agents unknown to the govern- 
ment in its formation, and existing by the mere will 
of the Council; and will leave all other objects, 
necessary for the defence of the country, neglected, 
for the want of means, until the meeting of the con- 
vention in March next. 

" It was my wish, if it had been possible, to avoid 
for the present the expression of any opinion which 
might be suppressed in the present crisis. But since I 
reported to your excellency, having had leisure to 
peruse all the documents of a controversial nature 
growing out of the relative duties of yourself and the 
General Council to the people of Texas, are solution of 
the Council, requiring of me an act of insubordination 
and disobedience to your orders, demands of me that 
I should inquire into the nature of that authority 
which would stimulate me to an act of treason, or an 
attempt to subvert the government which I have sworn 
to support. The only constitution which Texas has is 
the ' organic law.' Then any violation of that law, 
which would destroy the basis of government, must be 
treason. Has treason been committed? if so, by 
whom, and for what purpose? The history of the last 



140 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

few weeks will be the best answer tliat can be 
rendered. 

" After tlie capitulation of Bexar, it was understood 
at head-quarters that there was much discontent with 
the troops then at that point, and that it might be 
necessary to employ them in some active enterprise, 
or the force would dissolve. With this information 
was suggested the expediency of an attack on Mata- 
moras. For the purpose of imj)roving whatever 
advantages might have been gaine^ at Bexar, I ap- 
plied to your excellency for orders, which I obtained, 
directing the adoption of such measures as might be 
deemed best for the protection of the frontier and the 
reduction of Matamoras. This order was dated 17th 
of December ; and on the same date I wrote to Colonel 
James Bowie, directing him, in the event he could 
obtain a sufficient number of volunteers for the pur- 
pose, to make a descent on Matamoras ; and, if his 
force would not justify that measure, he was directed 
to occupy the most advanced post, so as to check the 
enemy, and by all means to place himself in a situa- 
tion to command Copano. Colonel Bowie did not 
receive the order: having left Goliad for Bexar, he 
was not apprised of it until his arrival at San Felipe, 
about the 1st of January instant. My reason for 
ordering Colonel Bowie on the service was, his fami- 
liar acquaintance with the country, as well as the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 14X 

nature of tlie population tlirougli wMcli troops must 
pass, as also their resources ; and to this I freely add 
that there is no man on whose forecast, prudence, and 
valor, I place a higher estimate than Colonel Bowie. 

"Pi-evious to this time, the General Council had 
adopted a resolution requiring the governor to direct 
the removal of the head-quarters of the army, and I 
had been ordered to Washington, for their establish- 
ment, until further orders. I had been detained, 
awaiting copies of the ordinances relative to the army. 
Their design was manifest, nor could their objects be 
misapprehended, though the extent to which they were 
then carrying them was not known. Messrs. Hanks 
and Clements were engaged in writing letters to indi- 
viduals at Bexar, urging and authorizing a campaign 
against Matamoras; and, that their recommendation 
might bear the stamp of authority, and mislead those 
who were unwilling to embark in an expedition not 
sanctioned by government, and led by private individ- 
uals, they took the liberty of signing themselves mem- 
bers of the military committee ; thereby deceiving the 
volunteers, and assuming a character which they could 
only use or employ in the General Council, in propos- 
ing business for the action of that body. They could 
not be altogether ignorant of the impropriety of such 
conduct, but doubtless could easily find a solid justifi- 
cation in the bullion of their patriotism and the ore of 



1^2 HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

tlieir integrity. Be their motive wliatever it miglit, 
many brave and honorable men were deluded by it, 
and tlie campaign was commenced npon Matamoras, 
under Dr. Grant, as 'acting' commander-in-chief of 
the volunteer army — a title and designation unknown 
to the world. But the General Council, in their ad- 
dress to the people of Texas, dated January 11th, 
state that ' they never recognized in Br. Grant any 
authority whatever as an officer of the government, or 
army, at the time.' They will not, I presume, deny 
that they did acknowledge a draft, or order, drawn 
by him, as acting C077i7nander-in-chief, amounting to 
seven hundred and fifty dollars. But this they will 
doubtless justify, on the ground that your excellency 
commissioned General Burleson, and, of course, the 
appointment of Dr. Grant, as his aid-de-camp, would 
authorize him to act in the absence of General Bur- 
leson. It is an established principle in all armies that 
a staiffi-officer can claim no command in the line of the 
army, nor exercise any command in the absence of the 
general, unless he holds a commission in the line. In 
the absence of General Burleson, the senior colonel — 
or, in the absence of the colonel, the major — or, in his 
absence, the senior captain — would have the com- 
mand ; but in no event can the aide, or staff-officer, 
unless he holds a commission iu the line of the army, 
have any command; and his existence must cease, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. I43 

unless lie sliould be continued or reappointed by tlie 
officer of tlie line wLo succeeds to tlie command in tlie 
absence of his superior. Wlien General Burleson left 
the army, his aide had no command, but the field- 
officer next in rank to himself. Then, who is Dr. 
Grant ? Is he not a Scotchman, who has resided in 
Mexico for the last ten years ? does he not own large 
possessions in the interior ? has he ever taken the oath 
to support the organic law? is he not deeply in- 
terested in the hundred-league claims of land which 
hang like a murky cloud over the people of Texas ? is 
he not the man who impressed the property of the 
people of Bexar ? is he not the man who took from 
Bexar, without authority, or knowledge of the govern- 
ment, cannon and other munitions of war, together 
with supplies necessary for the troops at that station, 
leaving the wounded and the sick destitute of needful 
comforts ? Yet this is the man whose outrages and 
oppressions upon the rights of the people of Texas are 
sustained and justified by the acts and conduct of the 
General Council. 

" Several members of that body are aware that the 
interests and feelings of Dr. Grant are opposed to the 
independence and true interests of the people of Texas. 
While every facility has been afforded to the medi- 
tated campaign against Matamoras, no aid has been 
rendered for raising a regular force for the defence of 



144 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

tlie country, nor one cent advanced to an officer or 
soldier of the regular army, but every hindrance 
thrown in the way. The Council had no right to pro- 
ject a campaign against any point or place. It was 
the province of the governor, by his proper officers, to 
do so. The Council had the right of consenting or 
objecting, but not of projecting. The means ought to 
be placed at the disposition of the governor; and if he, 
by himself, or his officers, failed in their application, 
while he would be responsible for the success of the 
armies of Texas, he could be held responsible to the 
government, and punishable ; but what recourse has 
the country upon agents who have taken no oath, and 
given no bonds to comply with the powers granted by 
the Council? 

" The organic law declares, in article third, that 'the 
governor and General Council have power to organize, 
reduce, or increase the regular forces ; ' but it dele- 
gates no power to create army-agents, to supersede the 
commander-in-chief, as will be seen by reference to the 
second article of the 'military' basis of that law. 
After declaring that there shall be a regular army for 
the protection of Texas during the present war, in the 
first article, it proceeds in the second to state the con- 
stituents of that army : ' The regular army of Texas 
shall consist of one major-general, who shall be com- 
mander-in-chief of all the forces called into public ser- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 145 

vice during tlie war.' This, it will be remembered, is 
a law from wliicli tlie Council derive their powers ; 
and, of course, all troops in service since the adoption 
of this law, and all that have been accepted, or to be 
accepted during my continuance in office, are under my 
command. Consequently, the Council could not create 
an agency that could assume any command of troops, 
so as to supersede my powers, without a plain and 
palpable violation of their oaths. New names given 
could not change the nature of their obligations : they 
had violated the ' organic law.' 

" I will now advert to an ordinance of their own 
body, entitled 'an ordinance and decree to organize 
and establish an auxiliary volunteer corps of the arm}^ 
of Texas,' etc., passed December 5, 1835. The ordin- 
ance throughout recognizes the competency of the gov- 
ernor and commander-in-chief as the only persons 
authorized to accept the services of the volunteers, and 
makes it their especial duty to do so. It also gives 
the discretion to the commander-in-chief to accept the 
services of the volunteers for such term as ' he shall 
think the defence of the country and the good of the 
service require.' It is specified that muster-rolls shall 
accompany the reports of volunteers, and, when 
reported by the commander-in-chief to the governor, 
that commissions shall issue accordingly. Where 

elections take place in the volunteer corps, the ordin- 
7 



14.Q HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

ance declares tliat they shall be certified to the com- 
mander-in-cliief, and by Mm forwarded to the gover- 
nor. The third section of the law declares that when 
controversies arise in relation to the rank of officers of 
the same grade, they shall be be determined 'by draw- 
ing numbers, which shall be done by order of the 
commander-in-chief of the army.' This law was 
enacted by the General Council, and they cannot allege 
that any misconstruction could arise out of it ; for it 
plainly points out the duties of the governor and com- 
mander-in-chief j as defined by themselves. Yet, with- 
out the repeal of this law, they have proceeded to ap- 
point agents to exercise the very powers declared by 
them to belong to the governor and commander-in- 
chief ! This they have done, under the impression 
that a change of names would enable them to put 
down the governor and the commander-in-chief, not 
subject to them for their places, but created by the 
Consultation, and both of whom are as independent of 
the Council as the Council is of them — the commander- 
in-chief being subject to the organic law, and all laws 
conformable thereto, under the orders of the gover- 
nor. I have obeyed the orders of your excellency as 
promptly as they have met my knowledge ; and had 
not the Council, by acts as outrageous to my feelings 
as they are manifestly against law, adopted a course 
that must destroy all hopes of an army, I should yet 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 147 

have been on tlie frontier, and, by all possible means, 
I would at least have sought to place it in a state of 
defence. 

" It now becomes my duty to advert to the subject of 
the powers granted by the General Council to J. W. 
Fannin, Jr., on the 7th of January, 1836; and at a 
time when two members of the military committee, 
and other members of the Council, were advised that I 
had received orders from your excellency to repair 
forthwith to the frontier of Texas, and to concentrate 
the troops for the very purpose avowed in the 
resolutions referred to. The powers are as clearly 
illegal as they were unnecessary. By reference to the 
resolutions, it will be perceived that the powers given 
to J. W. Fannin, Jr., are as comprehensive in their 
nature, and as much at variance with the organic law 
and the decrees of the General Council, as the decrees 
of the General Congress of Mexico are at variance with 
the Federal Constitution of 1824, and really delegate 
to J. W. Fannin, Jr., as extensive powers as those con- 
ferred by the Congress on General Santa Anna. Yet 
the cant is kept up, even by J. W. Fannin, Jr., against 
the danger of a regular army ; while he is exercising 
powers which he must be satisfied are in open viola- 
tion of the organic law. J. W. Fannin, Jr., is a 
colonel in the regular army, and was sworn in and 
received his commission on the very day that the reso- 



148 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

lutions were adopted by tlie Council. By Ms oath lie 
was subject to the orders of the commander-in-chief, 
and, as a subaltern, could not, without an act of 
mutiny, interfere with the general command of the 
forces of Texas ; yet I find, in the Telegraph of the 
9th inst., a proclamation of his, dated on the 8th, 
addressed : ' Attention, volunteers,' and requiring 
them to rendezvous at San Patricio. No official char- 
acter is pretended by him, as his signature is private. 
This he did with a knowledge that I had ordered the 
troops from the mouth of the Brazos to Copano, and 
had repaired to that point to concentrate them. On 
the 10th inst., F. W. Johnson issued a similar procla- 
mation, announcing Matamoras as the point of attack. 
The powers of both these gentlemen were derived, if 
derived at all, from the General Council, in opposition 
to the will of the governor ; because certain purposes 
were to be answered, or the safety and harmony of 
Texas should be destroyed. 

" Colonel Fannin, in a letter addressd to the General 
Council, dated on the 21st of January, at Velasco, and 
to which he subscribes himself, ' J. W. Fannin, Jr., 
Agent Provisional Government,' when speaking of 
anticipated difficulties with the commander-in-chief, 
allays the fears of the Council by assuring them that, 
'I shall never make any myself; ' and he then adds : 
'The object in view will be the governing principle, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 149 

and sliould General Houston be ready and willing to 
take command, and march direct ahead, and execute 
your orders, and the volunteers to submit to it, or a 
reasonable part of them, I shall not say nay, but 
will do all in my power to produce harmony.' How 
was I to become acquainted with the orders of the 
Council ? Was it through my subaltern ? It must 
have been so designed — as the Council have not, up 
to the present moment, given me any official notice 
of the orders to which Colonel Fannin refers. This 
modesty and subordination on his part is truly com- 
mendable in a subaltern, and would imply that he 
had the right to ' say nay.' If he has this power, 
whence is it derived ? Not from any law, — and con- 
trary to his sworn duty as my subaltern, whose duty 
is obedience to my lawful commands, agreeably to 
the I'ules and regulations of the United States army, 
adopted by the Consultation of all Texas. If he ac- 
cepted any appointment incompatible with his ohliga- 
tion as a colonel in the regular army, it certainly 
increases his moral responsibilities to an extent which 
is truly to be regi'etted. 

" In another paragraph of his letter, he states : ' You 
will allow that we have too much division, and one 
cause of comj^laint is this very expedition, and that 
it is intended to remove Greneral Houston.' He then 
assures the Council that no blame shall attach to him, 



150 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

but most dutifully says to them, ' I will go wiere 
you have sent me, and will do wliat you have ordered 
me, if possible.' The order of the Council, as set 
forth in the resolutions appointing Colonel Fannin 
agent, and authorizing him to appoint as many agents 
as he might think proper, did most certainly place 
him above the governor and the commander-in-chief 
of the army — nor is he responsible to the Council, 
or the people of Texas. He is required to report, 
but he is not required to obey the Council. His 
powers are as unlimited and absolute as Cromwell's 
ever were. I regard the expedition, as now ordered, 
an individual, and not a national measure. The 
resolutions passed in favor of J. W. Fannin, Jr., 
and F. W. Johnson, and their proclamations, with 
its original start — Dr. Grant — absolve the country 
from all responsibility for its consequences. If I 
had any doubt on the subject, previous to hav- 
ing seen, at Goliad, a proclamation of J. W. Fan- 
nin, Jr., sent by him to the volunteers, I could no 
longer entertain one, as to the campaign, so far as 
'certain persons are interested in forwarding it. 
After appealing to the volunteers, he concluded 
with the assurance that Hhe troops should he paid 
out of the first spoils taken from the enemy.'' This, 
in my opinion, connected with the extraordinary 
powers granted to him, by the Council, divests the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 15X 

campaign of any character save tliat of a piratical or 
predatory war. 

" The people of Texas have declared to the world, 
that the war in which they are now engaged, is a war 
of principle, in defence of their civil and political 
rights. What effect will the declaration above re- 
ferred to have on the civilized world, when they 
learn that the individual who made it has since been 
clothed with absolute powers by the General Council 
of Texas ; and that, because you refuse to ratify their 
acts, they have declared you no longer the governor 
of Texas ? It was stated by way of inducement to the 
advance on Matamoras, that the citizens of that place 
were friendly to the advance of the troops of Texas 
upon that city. They, no doubt, ere this, have J. W. 
Fannin's proclamation (though it was in manuscript ), 
and if originally true, what will now be their feelings 
toward men who 'are to be paid out of the first 
spoils taken from the enemy ' ? The idea which must 
present itself to the enemy, will be, if the city is 
taken it will be given up to pillage ; and when the 
spoils are collected, a division will take place. In 
war, when spoil is the object, friends and enemies 
share one common destiny. This rule will govern 
the citizens of Matamoras in their conclusions, and 
render their resistance desperate. A city containing 
twelve thousand souls will not be taken by a handful 



152 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

of men wlio liave marclied twenty-two days without 
breadstu-ffs, or necessary supplies for an army. If 
there ever was a time when Matamoras could have 
been taken by a few men, that time has passed by. 
The people of that place are not aware of the high- 
minded and honorable men who fill the ranks of the 
Texan army. They will look upon them as they 
would look upon Mexican mercenaries, and resist 
them as such. They too will hear of the impressment 
of the property of the citizens of Bexar, as reported 
to your excellency, by Lieutenant-Colonel Neill, when 
Dr. Grant left that place for Matamoras, in command 
of the volunteer army. 

" If the troops advance upon Matamoras, there ought 
to be a co-operation by sea, with the land forces, or 
all will be lost ; and the brave men who have come 
to toil with us in our marches, and mingle in our 
battles for liberty, will fall a sacrifice to the selfish- 
ness of some who have individual purposes to answer, 
and whose influence with the Council has been such as 
to impose upon the honest part of its members ; 
while those who were otherwise, availed themselves 
of every artifice which they could devise, to shield 
themselves from detection. 

" The evil is now done, and I trust sincerely that 
the 1st of March may establish a government on 
some permanent foundation, where honest function- 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 153 

aries will regard and execute the known and estab- 
lished laws of the country, agreeably to their oaths. 
If this state of things cannot be achieved, the country 
must be lost. I feel, in the station which I hold, that 
every effort of the Council has been to mortify me 
individually, and, if possible, to compel me to do 
some act which would enable them to pursue the 
same measures toward me, which they have illegally 
done toward your excellency, and thereby remove 
another obstacle to the accomplishment of their 
plans. In their attempts to embarrass me, they 
were reckless of all prejudice which might result to 
the public service from their lawless course. 

" While the Council was passing resolutions affecting 
the army of Texas, and transferring to J. W. Fannin, 
Jr., and F. W. Johnson the whole control of the army 
and resources of Texas, they could order them to 
be furnished with copies of the several resolutions 
passed by that body, but did not think proper even to 
notify the major-general of the army of their adoption ; 
nor have they yet caused him to be furnished with 
the acts of the Council relative to the army. True it 
is, that they passed a resolution to that effect, but it 
never was complied with. Their object must have 
been to conceal, and not to promulgate their acts. 
*They have loved darkness rather than light, because 

their deeds are evil' 

7* 



X54 SIS TOBY OF TEXAS. ' 

" I do not consider the Council as a constitutional 
body, nor their acts lawful. They have no quorum 
agreeably to the organic law, and therefore I am com- 
pelled to regard all their acts as void. The body has 
been composed of seventeen members, and I perceive 
that the act of 'suspension,' passed against your 
excellency, was by only ten members present; the 
president pr-f^ te7n. having no vote. Only ten members 
remain, when less than twelve members could not 
form a quorum agreeably to the organic law, which 
required two-thirds of the whole body. I am not 
prepared to violate either my duty or my oath, by 
yielding obedience to an act manifestly unlawful, as 
it is, in my opinion, prejudicial to the welfare of 
Texas. 

"The lieutenant-governor, and several members of 
the Council, I believe to be patriotic and just men; 
but there have been, and when I left San Felipe there 
were, others in that body on whose honesty and in- 
tegrity the foregoing facts will be the best commen- 
tary. They must also abide the judgment of the 
people. 

" I have the honor to be, 

" Your excellency's obedient servant, 
" Sam Houston, 
" Comnnander-in-Cliief of the Army.^'' 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. X55 

Without doubt General Houston's indignation was 
great against the General Council! Indeed, he was 
sorely vexed. He even called the gallant Colonel 
Johnson, who distinguished himself so highly in the 
reduction of San Antonio, Mr. Johnson., and the heroic 
Colonel Fannin, who with the immortal Bowie had 
gained such great glory at Concepcion, he styles Mr. 
J. W. Fannin., Jr. 

What could he do, by staying longer with the troops 
at Refugio, when the Matamoras fever was raging so 
fiercely ? 

He wisely concluded to go for the enemy in his rear ; 
so he returned to Washington, aided all he could the 
movement for a convention with plenary powers ;— 
thus to wipe out the detestable G-eisteeal Council, the 
impotent governor, Henry Smith, and the execrable 
PEOVisioisrAL GovEEisTMENT generally, and from the 
government established upon their overthrow, have his 
commission as commander-in-chief of the Texan forces 
reissued or confirmed, then he would take command 
and lead the gallant patriots of Texas to victory and 
independence. At any rate he did not stay to be in 
the way of the gallant gentlemen who had fought so 
nobly at La Purisima Concepcion and San Antonio de 
Bexar. 

Austin had requested him to command the army in 
his stead when it first approached San Antonio in tho 



l^Q HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

preceding year, but lie refused, because Austin, not 
himself, had been elected by the men. General Aus- 
tin insisted that he (Houston) had been elected to 
command the troops from the municipality of Nacog- 
doches and San Augustine — but Houston peremptor- 
ily refused to supersede him. 

On the return of General Houston to San Felipe, 
Governor Smith granted him a furlough till the 1st 
March, in which he stated : 

" Your absence is permitted in part by the illegal 
acts of the Council, in superseding you, by the un- 
authorized appointment of agents to organize and con- 
trol the army, contrary to the organic law, and the 
ordinances of their own body. In the meantime, you 
will conform to your instructions, and treat with 
the Indians." 

On the 23d of February, 1836, General Houston 
and Mr. Forbes,, as commissioners for Texas, made a 
treaty with the Indians, which in contemplation of the 
next campaign with the Mexicans was of incalculable 
importance. 

Communication about this time between Texas and 
New Orleans was much interrupted by two Mexican 
vessels of war, the Bravo and Montezuma. 

"The Hannali ElizabethJ^ says Yoakum, "freighted 
with cannon, arms, and ammunition, intended for the 
Texan service, and an adventure of goods and provis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 15^ 

ions belongiiDg in part to Peter Kerr, sailed from New 
Orleans for Matagorda. Kerr was himself on board, 
as were likewise Jose M. J. Carbajal and Fernando 
de Leon, tlie latter two having charge of the other 
freight. She was discovered, pursued, and run 
aground, at Pass Cavallo, by the Bravo. In the chase 
she had thrown overboard her cannon and ammuni- 
tion. She was boarded by a prize-crew, consisting of 
Lieutenant Mateo and eleven men from the Bravo / 
and Carbajal, De Leon, and some others were trans- 
ferred as prisoners to that vessel. Shortly after, the 
Bravo was driven ofE by a norther. In a day or two 
afterward, the citizens of Matagorda having received 
notice of the wreck, purchased and armed the schooner 
William Bobbins, placed her under the command 
of Captain Hurd, and, v^ith a small force on board, 
commanded by Captain S. Rhoads Fisher, retook the 
stranded vessel and made the prize-crew prisoners. 
This was all very w^ell; but they went further, and 
appropriated to themselves the goods and provisions, 
allowing Kerr to retain his part on payment of half 
their value ! But Kerr being unable to do this, got 
none. Governor Smith being duly advised of these 
proceedings, took occasion in a special message to 
reprehend them severely." 

Now the William Bobbins happened to belong to 
the firm of McKinney & Williams, and when Colonel 



158 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Tom heard this reprehension of Governor Smith, he 
vowed that he would punish him, but respecting the 
oiScer, he waited until Smith ceased to be chief magis- 
trate, when he coolly and calml}^ proceeded to whip 
his excellency until he hollowed : " Oh, donH ! donH ! 
donH I " Colonel Tom McKinney was a rare old Texan 
■ — was agent and creditor of Texas for many years. 
After a contest with Dr. G. A. Feris, of Kichmond, 
many years ago, the doctor said : " Why, Tom McKin- 
ney is the best man in Texas ! he can whip anybody ! " 
Indeed he was a brave, liberal, and gentle man — loved 
by his friends and respected even by his enemies. 

On the 11th of January, Mr. Austin and his asso- 
ciate commissioners negotiated a loan of $200,000, and 
on the 18th another for $50,000, which enabled the 
Texan agents to send supplies to the troops at a time 
when they were much needed. 

On the 1st February an election was held by order 
of the Council for delegates to a convention with 
plenary power's, which assembled at Washington, 
March 1st, and on the next day made and signed 
the following : 

"DECLAKATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

" When a government has ceased to protect the lives, 
liberty, and property of the people, from whom its 
legitimate powers are derived, and for the advance- 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. . 159 

ment of wliose happiness it was iDstituted ; and so far 
from being a guarantee for their inestimable and ina- 
lienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of 
evil rulers for their oppression — When the Federal 
Republican Constitution of their country, which they 
have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial 
existence, and the whole nature of their government 
has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from 
a restricted Federative Republic, composed of Sover- 
eign States, to a consolidated central military despot- 
ism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of 
the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies 
of civil liberty, the ever-ready minions of power, and 
the usual instruments of tyrants — When, long after 
the spirit of the constitution has departed, modera- 
tion is at length so far lost by those in power, that 
even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the 
forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, 
and so far from their petitions and remonstrances 
being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown 
into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to 
enforce a new government upon them at the point of 
the bayonet — 

" When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance 
and abduction on the part of the government, anarchy 
prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original 
elements — in such a crisis, the first law of nature, the 



IGO HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

riglit of self-preservation, the inlierent and inalienable 
right of tlie people to ap]3eal to first principles, and 
take their political affairs into their own hands in 
extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, 
and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish 
such government, and create another in its stead, 
calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, 
and to secure their welfare and happiness. 

" Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for 
their acts to the general opinion of mankind. A state- 
ment of a part of our giievances is therefore submit- 
ted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazar- 
dous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing 
our political connection with the Mexican people, and 
assuming an independent attitude among the nations 
of the earth. 

" The Mexican Government, by its colonization laws, 
invited and induced the Anglo-American population 
of Texas to colonize its wilderness under the pledged 
faith of a written constitution, and that they should 
continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and re- 
publican government to which they had been habitu- 
ated in the land of their birth — the United States of 
America. 

" In this expectation they have been cruelly disap- 
pointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acqui- 
esced in the late changes made in the government by 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. Igj 

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who, having 
overturned the constitution of his country, now offers 
to us the cruel alternatives, either to abandon our 
homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to 
the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined des- 
potism of the sword and the priesthood. 

" It has sacrificed our welfare to the State of Coa- 
huila, by which our interests have been continually 
depressed through a jealous and partial course of 
legislation, carried on at a far-distant seat of govern- 
ment, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue, 
and this too nothwithstanding we have petitioned, in 
the humblest terms, for the establishment of a separate 
state government, and have, in accordance with the 
provisions of the National Constitution, presented to 
the General Congress a republican constitution, which 
was, without just cause, contemptuously rejected. 

" It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of 
our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous endeavor 
to procure the acceptance of our Constitution, and the 
establishment of a State Government. 

"It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis^ 
the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil 
liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, 
and property of the citizen. 

" It has failed to establish any public system of edu- 
cation, although possessed of almost boundless resour- 



162 



EISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ces (tlie public domain), and altliough it is an axiom 
in political science, tliat unless a people are educated 
and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance 
of civil liberty, or the capacity for self-government. 

"It has suffered the military commandants, stationed 
among us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and 
tyranny, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights 
of the citizen, and rendering the military superior to 
the civil power. 

"It has dissolved, by force of arms, the State Con- 
gress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our repre- 
sentatives to fly for their lives from the seat of govern- 
ment, thus depri™g us of the fundamental political 
right of representation. 

" It has demanded the surrender of a number of our 
citizens, and ordered military detachments to seize and 
carry them into the interior for trial, in contempt of 
the civil authorities, and in defiance of the lavrs and 
the constitution. 

" It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, 
by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing 
them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of 
our citizens to far-distant parts for confiscation. 

" It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty 
according to the dictates of our own conscience, by 
the support of a national religion calculated to 
promote the temporal interest of its human function- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. I53 

aries, rather tlian tlie glory of tlie true and living 
God. 

" It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, wMcL. 
are essential to our defence — the rightful property of 
freemen — and formidable only to tyrannical govern- 
ments. 

" It has invaded our country both by sea and by land, 
with the intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us 
from our homes ; and has now a large mercenary army 
advancing to carry on against. us a war of extermination. 

" It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless 
savage, with the tomahawk and scalping-knife, to 
massacre the inhabitants of our defenceless frontiers. 

" It has been, during the whole time of our connec- 
tion with it, the contemptible sport and victim of 
successive military revolutions, and hath continually 
exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and 
tyrannical government. 

" These, and other grievances, were patiently borne 
by the people of Texas, until they reached that point 
at which forbearance ceases to be a \T.rtue. We then 
took up arms in defence of the National Constitution. 
We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance ; 
our appeal has been made in vain ; though months 
have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been 
heard from the interior. We are, therefore, forced to 
the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people 



164 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



tave acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, 
and tlie substitution therefor of a military government; 
that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of self • 
goYernment. 

" The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now 
decrees our eternal political separation. 

" We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary jjowers, 
of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, 
appealing to a candid loorldfor the necessities of our 
condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our po 
litical connection with the Mexican nation has forever 
ended, a7id that the people of Texas do now constitute 
a FREE, sovEREiGJsr, and independent eepublic, and 
are fully invested with all the rights and attributes 
tvhich properly belong to independent nations j and, 
conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fear- 
lessly and confidently cominit the issue to the Supreme 
Arbiter of the destinies of nations. 

" In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed 
our names. 



NAMES. 


AGE 


PLACE OF BIRTH. 


rOKMEB EESIDENCE. 


Richard Ellis 


54 
30 
80 
35 
46 
38 
54 
41 


Virginia 


Alabama. 


C. B. Stewart 


South Carolina 

Tennessee 


Louisiana. 


Janaes Collingswortli. . . 


Tennessee. 




Missouri. 


Asa Brigham 


Massachusetts 

Georgia 


Louisiana. 


J. S. D. Byron 


Florida. 


Bexar, Texas 

Bexar, Texas 




J, Anto. Navarro 





HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



165 



PLACE OF BIKTH. 



FORMER RESIDENCE. 



J. B. Badgett 

W. D. Lacy 

"William Menifee . . . 

Jolm Fislier 

M. Cold well 

W. Motley , 

L. D. Zavala , 

George W. Smyth. . , 

S. H. Everitt 

E. Stapp 

Cla". West 

W. B. Scates 

M. B. Menard 

A. B. Hardin 

J. W. Bunton 

Thomas G. Gazeley. 
R. M. Coleman. . . . 

S. C. Robertson 

George C. Childress. 

B. Hardiman 

R. Potter 

Thomas J. Rusk . . . . 
Charles S. Taylor. . . 
John S. Roberts . . . . 
R. Hamilton 

C. M. Kinney 

A. H. Lattimer 

James Power 

Sam Houston 

David Thomas 

E. Conrad 

Martin Parmer 

E. 0. Legrand 

S. W. Blount 

James Gaines 

W. Clark, Jr 

S. 0. Pennington. . . 
"W. C. Crawford.... 
John Turner 

B. B. Goodrich 

G. W. Barnett 

J. G. Swisher 

Jesse Grimes 

S. Rhoads Fisher. . . 
Sam.uel A. Maverick . 
John White Bower. . 
James B. Woods. . . . 

Andrew Briscoe 

John W. Moore 

Thomas Barnett .... 



29 

28 

40 

36 

38 

24 

47 

33 

29 

53 

3(3 

30 

31 

38 

28 

35 

37 

50 

32 

41 

36 

29 

28 

40 

53 

70 

27 

48 

43 

35 

26 

58 

33 

28 

60 

37 

27 

31 

34 

37 

43 

41 

48 

41 

29 

27 

34 



North Carolina. 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Virginia 

Kentucky 

Virginia 

Yucatan 

North Carolina. . 

New York 

Virginia 

Tennessee , 

Virginia 

Canada 

Georgia 

Tennessee 

New York 

Kentucky 

North Carolina. . 

Tennessee 

Tennessee , 

North Carolina. . 
South Carolina. . 

England 

Virginia 

Scotland 

New Jersey 

Tennessee 

Ireland 

Virginia 

Tennessee 

Pennsylvania. . . . 

Virginia 

North Carolina. . . 

Georgia 

Virginia 

North Carolina. . . 

Kentucky 

North Carolina. . . 
North Carolina. . . 

Virginia 

South Carolina. . . 

Tennessee 

North Carolina. . . 
Pennsylvania . . . . 
South Carolina. . . 

Georgia 

Kentucky 



Arkansas Territory. 

Tennessee. 

Alabama. 

Virginia. 

Missouri. 

Kentucky. 

Mexico. 

Alabama. 

New York. 

Missouri. 

Louisiana. 

Kentucky. 

Illinois. 

Tennessee. 

Tennessee. 

Louisiana. 

Kentucky. 

Tennessee. 

Tennessee. 

Tennessee. 

North Carolina. 

Georgia. 

New York. 

Louisiana. 

North Carolina. 

Kentucky. 

Tennessee. 

Louisiana. 

Tennessee. 

Tennessee. 

Pennsylvania. 

Missouri. 

Alabama. 

Georgia. 

Louisiana. 

Georgia. 

Arkansas Territory. 

Alabama. 

Tennessee. 

Alabama. 

Mississippi. 

Tennessee. 

Alabama. 

Pennsylvania. 

South Carolina. 

Arkansas Territory. 

Kentucky. 



166 HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

On the 4tli of March, 1836, the Convention made 
General Sam Houston commander-in-chief of the land 
forces of the Texan army, " with all the rights, privi- 
leges, and powers due to a commander-in-chief in the 
United States of America," and on the 6th ordered 
him to proceed to the frontier, to establish his head- 
quarters and organize the army. 

On the 16th, the Convention adopted the Constitu- 
tion of the Republic, and on the same day, as a govern- 
ment ad interim,^ made David Gr. Burnet, President; 
Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice-President ; S. P. Carson, Se- 
cretary of State ; Baily Hardiman, Secretary of the 
Treasury ; Thomas J. Busk, Secretary of War ; Bobert 
Potter, Secretary of th^ Navy ; and David Thomas, 
Adjutant-General — and then adjom'ned. 



CHAPTEE VI 

Santa Anna resolves on the Conquest of Texas. — His Army. — ^Invjests the 
Alamo, — The Defence of that place. — Letters of Colonel Travis. — An 
Escape from and the Fall of the Alamo. 

EWS of the storming of San Antonio and tlie 
capture of Ms brother-in-law, General Cos, coming 
to the ears of the President-General, Santa Anna, he 
forthwith determined to raise and lead in person an, 
army to the subjugation of the rebellious Texans. 

Santa Anna was the most popular man in all Mex- 
ico, and upon the question of retaking Texas, Mexicans 
were almost a unit, so he had but little trouble in soon 
collecting an army of 8,000 men, "composed of the 
best troops in Mexico, and commanded by the most 
experienced officers " of the Republic. 

General Vicente Filisola, a veteran revolutionist, 
was the second in command to Santa Anna, who was 
aided by Colonel Almonte, and supported by Generals 
Urrea, Sesma, Gaona, Tolsa, Andrade, WoU, and Oos^ 
the last of whom, according to Kennedy, "violated 
the conditions of the first article of his capitulation at 
Bexar, by which he and his officers were permitted to 
retire with their arms and private property into the 



168 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

interior of tlie republic, " under parole of honor that 
they would not in any way oppose the re-establish- 
ment of the Federal Constitution of 1824" 

Colonel Ampudia, afterwards Greneral Ampudia, 
was in command of the artillery, of which there v/as a 
considerable train, including mortars, while Colonel 
Louis Tola acted as engineer. 

Says Kennedy : 

''There was an immense mass of baggage, with sev- 
eral thousand mules and horses for its transport; 
indeed all the preparations were on a scale of grand- 
eur that contrasted strangely with the contemptuous 
terms in which the heads and promoters of the expe- 
dition spoke of the people whose destruction it was 
intended to accomplish." 

General Filisola, in his account of the campaign, 
says there was also an immense number of women 
who followed in the wake of the army, which informa- 
tion called from the innocent Yoakum the following 
astute comment : " But for wliat pmyose they we7'e per- 
mitted^ unless to take care of the plunder, we are not 
inforinedr 

On the 23d of February, 1836, Santa Anna, cross- 
ing the Alazan, where, in 1813, the Republicans under 
the gallant Perry gained a signal victory over the 
forces of the viceroy under Elisondo, entered San 
Antonio without o2:)position, and having demanded 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 1^9 

the surrender of the Alamo., wMcli was refused, com- 
menced a furious bombardment of that devoted place ! 
When it was invested, the Alamo was defended by 
one hundred and fifty-six men, commanded by the 
gallant captor of Anahuac, Colonel W. B. Travis, and 
included Colonel James Bowie, the hero of Concejo- 
ciori., Colonel Davy Ci'ockett, the celebrated ex-mem- 
ber of Congress from Tennessee, Colonels J. B. Bon- 
ham and J. Washington, with others less famous. 

On the 24th, Colonel Travis sent the following let- 
ter by express to his people : 

"CoMMANDANCT OP THE Alamo, Bexae, February 34, 1836. 

" Fellow-Citizens and Compateiots :_^I am besieged 
by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa 
Anna. I have sustained a continued bombardment 
for twenty-four hours, and have not lost a man. The 
enemy have demanded a surrender at discretion ; other- 
wise the garrison is to be put to the sword, if the place 
is taken. I have answered the summons with a can- 
non-shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the 
walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then I call 
on you, in the name of liberty, of patriotism, and of 
everything dear to the American character, to come to 
our aid with all despatch. The enemy are receiving 
reinforcements daily, and will no doubt increase to 
three or four thousand in four or five days. Though 



170 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



tills call may be neglected, I am determined to sustain 
myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier wlio 
never forgets wliat is due to his own honor and tliat 
of his country. Victory or death ! 
"W. Barret Travis, 

^'"Lieutenant- Colonel commanding. 

" P. S. — ^The Lord is on our side. When the enemy 
appeared in sight, we had not three bushels of corn. 
We have since found, in deserted houses, eighty or 
ninety bushels, and got into the walls twenty or 
thirty head of beeves. " T." 

On the 1st of March he was joined by thirty -two 
men from Gonzales, who increased his force to 188 
soldiers. On the 3d of March he wrote to the Presi- 
dent of the Convention at Washington : 

" From the 25th to the present date the enemy have 
kept up a bombardment from two howitzers (one a 
five-and-a-half inch, and the other an eight-inch), and 
a heavy cannonade from two long nine-pounders 
mounted on a battery on the opposite side of the 
river, at the distance of four hundred yards from our 
walls. During this period the enemy have been busily 
employed in encircling us with entrenched encamp- 
ments at the following distances : In Bexar, 400 
yards west; in Lavilleta, 300 yards south; at the 
powder-house, 1,000 yards east by south ; on the ditch, 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 171 

800 yards nortlieast ; and at the old mill, 800 yards 
north. Notwithstanding all this, a company of thirty- 
two men from Gonzales made their way to us on the 
morning of the 1st instant, at thi-ee o'clock, and Colonel 
J. B. Bonham (a courier from the same place) got in 
this morning at 11 o'clock. 

" I have so fortified the place that the walls are gen- 
erally proof against cannon balls, and I still continue 
to intrench in the inside, and strengthen the walls by 
throwing up the earth. At least 200 shells have 
fallen inside our walls without having injured a single 
man; indeed we have been so fortunate as not to lose 
a man from any cause, and we have killed many of 
the enemy. The spirits of my men are still high, 
although they have had much to depress them 

" Colonel Fannin is said to be on the march to this 
place with reinforcements ; but I fear ■ it is not true, 
as I have repeatedly sent to him for aid without 
receiving any. Colonel Bonham, my special messen- 
ger, arrived at La Bahia (Groliad) fourteen days ago, 
with a request for aid ; and on the arrival of the 
enemy in Bexar, I sent an express to Colonel Fannin, 
which reached Groliad on the next day, urging him to 
send on reinforcements. N^one Jiave yet arrived. I 
look to the colonies alone for aid; unless it arrive 
soon, I shall have to fight the enemy on his own 
terms. I will, however, do the best I can under the 



173 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

circumstances; and I feel confident tliat the deter- 
mined spirit and desperate courage heretofore evinced 
by my men will not fail them in the last struggle; 
and although they may be sacrificed to the ven- 
geance of a Gothic enemy, the victory will cost 
that enemy so dear that it will be worse than a 
defeat. 

"I hope your honorable body will hasten on re- 
inforcements, ammunition, and provisions to our aid 
as soon as possible. We have provisions for twenty 
days for the men we have : our supply of ammunition 
is limited. At least 500 lbs. of cannon powder, and 
200 rounds of six, nine, twelve, and eighteen pound 
balls, ten kegs of rifle powder, and a supply of lead 
should be sent to this place without delay under a 
sufficient guard. If these things are promptly sent, 
and large reinforcements are hastened to this frontier, 
this neighborhood will be the great and decisive 
battle-ground. The power of Santa Anna is to be 
met here or in the colonies : we had better meet it 
here than to suffer a war of desolation to rage in our 
settlements. A blood-red banner waves from the 
church of Bexar, and in the camp above us, in token 
that the war is one of vengeance against rebels: they 
have declared us such, and demanded that we should 
surrender at discretion, or this garrison should be put 
to the sword. Their threats have had no influence on 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. l73 

me or my men, but to make all fight with desperation, 
and with that high-souled courage which characterizes 
the patriot, who is willing to die in defence of his 
country's liberty and his own honor. 

'The citizens of this municipality are all our 
enemies, except those who joined us heretofore; we 
have but three Mexicans in the fort. Those who have 
not joined us in this extremity should be declared 
public enemies, and their property should aid in 
defraying the expenses of the war. 

" The bearer of this will give your honorable body 
a statement more in detail, should he escape through 
the enemy's lines. — God and Texas! Victory or 
Death!'' 

In one of his last letters he says : " I am still here, 
in fine spirits, and well to do. With one hundred and 
forty -five men, I have held this place ten days against 
a force variously estimated fi'om fifteen hundred to 
six thousand ; and I shall continue to hold it till I get 
relief from my countrymen, or I will perish in its de- 
fence. We have had a shower of bombs and cannon- 
balls continually falling among us the whole time, yet 
none of us have fallen. We have been miraculously 
preserved." 

He then closes by saying : " Take care of my little 
boy. If the country should be saved, I may make 
him a splendid fortune ; but if the country should be 



174 SIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

lost, and I should perish, he will have nothing but the 
proud recollection that he is the son of a man who 
died for his country." 

I will now describe the memorable Fall of the 
Alamo as related to me by Mrs. Susan Hannig, for- 
merly Mrs. Dickinson, who witnessed it. 

" On February 23d, 1836, Santa Anna, having cap- 
tured the pickets sent out by Col Travis to guard the 
post from surprise, charged into San Antonio with his 
troops, variously estimated at from six to ten thousand, 
only a few moments after the bells of the city rang 
the alarm. 

" Capt. Dickinson galloped up to our dwelling and 
hurriedly exclaimed : " The Mexicans are upon us, 
give me the babe, and jump up behind me." I did so, 
and as the Mexicans already occupied Commerce 
street, we galloped across the river at the ford south 
of it, and entered the fort at the southern gate, when 
the enemy commenced firing shot and shell into the 
fort, but with little or no effect, only wounding one 
horse. 

" There were eighteen guns mounted on the fortifi- 
cations, and these, with our riflemen, repulsed with 
great slaughter two assaults made upon them before 
the final one. 

" I knew Colonels Crockett, Bowie and Travis well. 
Col. Crockett was a performer on the violin, and often 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. ] 75 

during the siege took it up and played Ms favorite 
tunes. 

" I heard Hni say several times during tlie eleven, 
days of the siege : ' I think we had better march out 
and die in the open air. I don't like to be hemmed up.' 

" There were provisions and forage enough in the 
fort to have subsisted men and horses for a month 
longer. 

" A few days before the final assault three Texans 
entered the fort during the night and inspired us with 
sanguine hopes of speedy relief, and thus animated the 
men to contend to the last. 

"A Mexican woman deserted us one night, and go- 
ing over to the enemy informed them of our very 
inferior numbers, which Col. Travis said made them 
confident of success and emboldened them to make the 
final assault, which they did at early dawn on the 
morning of the 6 th of March. 

" Under the cover of darkness they approached the 
fortifications, and planting their scaling ladders against 
our v/alls just as light was approaching, they climbed 
up to the tops of our walls and jumped down within, 
many of them to immediate death. 

" As fast as the front ranks were slain, they were 
filled up again by fresh troops. 

"The Mexicans numbered several thousands while 
there were only one hundred and eighty -two Texans. 



176 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

"The struggle lasted more than two hours when 
my husband rushed into the church where I was with 
my child, and exclaimed : ' Great God, Sue, the Mexi- 
cans are inside our walls ! All is lost ! If they spare 
you, save my child.' 

" Then, with a parting kiss, he drew his sword and 
plunged into the strife, then raging in different por- 
tions of the fortifications. 

" Soon after he left me, three unarmed gunners who 
abandoned their then useless guns came into the church 
where I was, and were shot down by my side. One of 
them was from Nacogdoches and named Walker. He 
spoke to me several times during the siege about his 
wife and four children with anxious tenderness. I 
saw four Mexicans toss him up in the air (as you 
would a bundle of fodder) with their bayonets, and 
then shoot him. At this moment a Mexican officer 
came into the room, and, addressing me in English, 
asked: 'Are you Mrs. Dickinson?' I answered ' Yes.' 
Then said he, ' If you wish to save your life, follow 
me.' I followed him, and although shot at and 
wounded, was spared. 

"As we passed through the enclosed ground in front 
of the church, I saw heaps of dead and dying. The 
Texans on an average killed between eight and nine 
Mexicans each — 182 Texans and 1,600 Mexicans were 
killed. 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. l77 

"I recognized Col. Crockett lying dead and muti- 
lated between tlie cliurcli and tlie two story barrack 
building, and even remember seeing Ms peculiar cap 
lying by his side. 

" Col. Bowie was sick in bed and not expected to 
live, but as the victorious Mexicans entered Ms room, 
he killed two of them with his pistols before they 
pierced him through \^ith their sabres. 

" Cols. Travis and Bonham were killed while work- 
ing the cannon, the body of the former lay on the top 
of the church. 

" In the evening the Mexicans brought wood from 
the neighboring forest and burned the bodies of all 
the Texans, but their own dead they buried in the 
city cemetery across the San Pedro." 

Thus perished the heroes of the Alamo ! of whom 
the poet says : 

" Gashed with honorable scars, 
Low in Glory's lap they lie ; 
Though they fell, they fell like stars, 
Streaming splendor through thesky.' 

Eemembrance of their devoted patriotism has no 
doubt inspired Texans with generous emulation on 
many occasions besides that of San Jacinto, where 
their victorious charge was .made with the memorable 
battle-cry : 

" Memember the Alamo ! " 



178 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

To Texans these words should speak volumes, and 
not only remind them of the plains of San Jacinto, 
but of Mansfield, Sabine Pass, Pleasant Hill, Gains' 
Mill, and an hundred other fields of glory and death 
on which their soldiers rushed 

*' Where the battle wreck lay thickest, 
And death's brief pang was quickest." 

They should say to the youth of Texas : 

''^ Dulce et decorum est pro pat/i^ia morV 

They should picture to their young minds, in glow- 
ing colors, the contest between Leonidas and his three 
hundred Spartans with the myriad hosts of Persia at 
Thermopylge. 

They should say to them : " If we fall, we will fall 
in a blaze of glory, but if we are victorious, the Union 
will redound with our praise." 

They should point the slow moving finger of scorn 
at the coward and exclaim : 

" Cowards die many deaths, the brave bat once." 

They should cause them to remember the beautiful 
lines of the poet : 

" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 
The soldier's last tattoo ; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 
That brave and gallant few. 



EI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. X79 

" On fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread. 
And Glory guards with ceaseless round 
The bivouac of the dead." 

The following account of an esca^je from the Alamo 
is from a late Texas publication, and may throw 
more light upon the last hours of its immortal de- 
fenders : 

" About two hours before sunset, on the third day 
of March, 1836, the bombardment suddenly ceased, 
and the enemy withdrew an unusual distance. Taking 
advantage of that opportunity. Col. Travis paraded 
all of his e:ffective men in a single file ; and, taking 
his position in front of the centre, he stood for some 
moments, apparently speechless from emotion. Then, 
nerving himself for the occasion, he addressed them 
substantially as follows : 

" ' My Brave Companiojs's : Stern necessity com- 
pels me to employ the few moments afforded by this 
probably brief cessation of conflict in making known to 
you the most interesting, yet the most sokmn, melan- 
choly, and unwelcome fact that perishing humanity 
can realize. But how shall I find language to pre- 
pare you for its reception ? I cannot do so. All that 
I can say to this purpose is, be prepared for the worst. 
I must come to the point. Our fate is sealed. With- 
in a very few days — perhaps a very few hours — we 



180 HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

must all be in eternity. This is our destiny, and we 
cannot avoid it. This is our certain doom. 

" ' I have deceived you long by the promise of 
help. But I crave your pardon, hoping that after 
hearing my explanation, you will not only regard my 
conduct as pardonable, but heartily sympathize with 
me in my extreme necessity. In deceiving you, I also 
deceived myself, having been first deceived by others. 

" ' I have continually received the strongest assur- 
ances of help fi'om home. Every letter from the Coun- 
cil, and every one that I have seen from individuals 
at home, has teemed with assurances that our people 
were ready, willing, and anxious to come to our re- 
lief ; and that within a very short time we might con- 
fidently expect recruits enough to repel any force that 
would be brought against us. These assurances I re- 
ceived as facts. They inspired me with the greatest 
confidence that our little band would be made the 
nucleus of an army of sufficient magnitude to repel 
our foes, and to enforce peace on our own terms. In 
the honest and simple confidence of my heart, I have 
transmitted to you these promises of help, and my 
confident hopes of success. But the promised help 
has not come, and our hopes are not to be realized. 

" ' I have evidently confided too much in the prom- 
ises of our friends. But let us not be in haste to cen- 
sure them. The enemy has invaded our territory 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. ISl 

mucli earlier tlian we anticipated ; and their present 
approacli is a matter of surprise. Our friends were 
evidently not informed of our perilous condition in 
time to save ns. Doubtless they would have been 
here by the time they expected any considerable force 
of the enemy. When they find a Mexican army in 
their midst, I hope they will show themselves true to 
their cause. 

" ' My calls on Col. Fannin remain unanswered, and 
my messengers have not retui'ned. The probabilities 
are that his whole command has fallen into the hands 
of the enemy, or been cut to pieces, and that our 
couriers have been cut off. 

" ' I trust that I have now explained my conduct to 
your satisfaction, and that you do not censure me for 
my course. 

" ' I must again refer to the assurances of help from 
home. They are what deceived me, and caused me to 
deceive you. Relying upon these assurances, I deter- 
mined to remain within these walls until the promised 
help should arrive, stoutly resisting all assaults from 
without. Upon the same reliance, I retained you here, 
regarding the increasing force of our assailants with 
contempt, till they outnumbered us more than twenty 
to one, and escape became impossible. For the same 
reason, I scorned their demand for a surrender at 
discretion, and defied their threat to put every one 



182 eistout of texas. . 

of us to tlie sword, if the fort should be taken by 
storm. 

" ' I must now sp'eak of our present situation. Here 
we are, surrounded by an army that could almost 
eat us for a breakfast, from whose arms our lives are 
for the present protected by the stone walls. We 
have no hope of help, for no force that we could 
ever reasonably have expected could cut its way 
through the strong ranks of these Mexicans. We 
dare not surrender; for, should we do so, that black 
flag,now waving in our sight, as well as the merci- 
less character of our enemies, admonishes us of what 
would be our doom. We cannot cut our way out 
through the eneDiy's ranks; for, in attempting that, 
we should all be slain in less than ten minutes. 
Nothing remains then, but to stay within this fort 
and fight to the last moment. In this case, we must, 
sooner or later, all be slain ; for I am sure that Santa 
Anna is determined to storm the fort and take it, even 
at the greatest cost of the lives of his own men. 

" Then we must die ! Our speedy dissolution is a 
fixed and inevitable fact. Our business is, not to 
make a fruitless eifort to save our lives, but to choose 
the manner of our death. But three modes are pre- 
sented to us. Let us choose that by which we may 
best serve our country. Shall we surrender, and be 
deliberately shot, without taking the life of a single 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 183 

enemy ? Shall we try to cut our way out through the 
Mexican ranks, and be butchered before we can hill 
twenty of our adversaries ? I am opposed to either 
method ; for, in either case, Ave could but lose our 
lives without benefiting our friends at home — our 
fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, our 
wives and little ones. The Mexican army is strong 
enough to march through the country, and extermi- 
nate its inhabitants, and our countrymen are not able 
to oppose them in open field. My choice, then, is to 
remain in this fort, to resist every assault, and to sell 
our lives as dearly as possible. 

" ' Then let us band together as brothers, and vow 
to die together. Let us resolve to withstand our ad- 
versaries to the last ; and, at each advance, to kill as 
many of them as possible. And when, at last, they 
shall storm our fortress, let us kill them as they come ! 
kill them as they scale our wall ! kill them as they 
leap within ! kill them as they raise their weapons, 
and as they use them ! kill them as they kill our com- 
panions ! and continue to kill them as long as one of 
us shall remain alive ! 

" ' By this policy, I trust that we shall so weaken 
our enemies that our countrymen at home can meet 
them on fair terms, cut them up, expel them from 
the country, and thus establish our own independence, 
and secure prosperity and happiness to our families 



184 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

and our country. And, he assured, our memory will 
be gratefully cherished by posterity, till all history 
shall be erased, and all noble deeds shall be forgotten. 

" ' But I leave every man to his own choice. Should 
any man prefer to surrender, and be tied and shot ; 
or to attempt an escape through the Mexican ranks, 
and be killed before he can run a hundred yards, he 
is at liberty to do so. 

" ' My own choice is to stay in this fort, and die- for 
my country, fighting as long as breath shall remain in 
my body. This will I do, even if you leave me alone. 
Do as you think best — but no man can die with me 
without affording me comfort in the moment of death.' 

" Col. Travis then drew his sword, and with its point 
traced a line upon the ground, extending from the 
right to the left of the file. Then, resuming his posi- 
tion in front of the centre, he said, ' I now want every 
man who is detei'mined to stay here and die with me 
to come across this line. Who will be first ? March ! ' 

"The first respondent was Tapley Holland, who 
leaped the line at a bound, exclaiming, ' I am ready 
to die for my country ! ' His example was instantly 
followed by every man in the file, with the exception 
of Rose. Manifest enthusiasm was universal and tre- 
mendous. Every sick man that could walk arose 
from his bunk and tottered across the line. Col. 
Bowie, who could not leave his bed, said, ' Boys, I 



SI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 185 

am not able to come to yon, but I wish some of you 
would be so kind as to remove my cot over there.' 
Four men instantly ran to the cot, and, each lifting a 
corner, carried it across the line. Then every sick 
man that could not walk made the same request, and 
had his bunk removed in like manner. 

"Rose, too, was deeply affected, but differently 
from his companions. He stood till every man but 
himself had crossed the line. A consciousness of the 
real situation overpowered him. He sank upon the 
ground, covered his face, and yielded to his own 
reflections. For a time he was unconscious of what 
was transpiring around him. A bright idea came to 
his relief; he spoke the Mexican dialect very flu- 
ently, and could he once get safely out of the fort, 
he might easily pass for a Mexican and effect an 
escape. Thus encouraged, he suddenly aroused as 
if from sleep. He looked over the area of the fort ; 
every sick man's berth was at its wonted place; 
every effective soldier was at his post, as if awaiting 
orders ; he felt as if dreaming. 

" He directed a searching glance at the cot of Colo- 
nel BoAvie. There lay his gallant friend. Colonel 
David Crockett was leaning over the cot, conversing 
with its occupant in an undertone. After a few 
seconds Bowie looked at Rose and said, ' You seem 
not to be willing to die with us, Rose.' ' No,' said 



136 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Rose, ' I am not prepared to die, and shall not do so 
if I can avoid it.' Tlien Crockett also looked at 
Mm, and said, 'You may as well conclude to die 
witk us, old man, for escape is impossible.' 

" Rose made no reply, but looked up at tlie top of 
the wall. ' I have often done worse than to climb 
that wall,' thought he. Suiting the action to the 
thought he sprang up, seized his wallet of unwashed 
clothes, and ascended the wall. Standing on its top, 
he looked down within to take a last view of his 
dying friends. They were all now in motion, but 
what they were doing he heeded not. Overpowered 
by his feelings he looked away and saw them no 
more, 

"Looking down without he was amazed at the 
scene of death that met his gaze. From the wall to 
a considerable distance beyond, the ground was liter- 
ally covered with slaughtered Mexicans and pools 
of blood. 

" He viewed this horrid scene but a moment. He 
threw down his wallet and leaped after it. He 
alighted on his feet, but the momentum of the spring 
threw him sprawling upon his stomach in a puddle 
of blood. After several seconds he recovered his 
breath; he arose and took up his wallet; it had 
fallen open and several garments had rolled out 
upon the blood. He hurriedly thrust them back, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. Xg7 

without trying to cleanse tliem of the coagulated 
blood which, adhered to them. Then, throwing the 
wallet across his shoulders, he walked rapidly away. 

" He took the road which led down the river around 
a bend to the ford, and through the town by the 
church. He waded the river at the ford and passed 
through the town. He saw no person in town, but 
the doors were all closed, and San Antonio appeared 
as a deserted city. 

" After passing through the town he turned down 
the river. A stillness as of death prevailed. When 
he had gone about a quarter of a mile below the town 
his ears were saluted by the thunder of the bombard- 
ment, which was then renewed. That thunder con- 
tinued to remind him that his friends were true to 
their cause, by a continual roar, with but slight 
intervals, until a little before sunrise on the morning 
of the sixth, when it ceased and he heard it no 
more. 

" At twilight he recrossed the river on a foot-log, 
about three miles below the town. He then directed 
his course eastwardly towards the Guadalupe River, 
carefully bearing to the right to avoid the Gonzales 
road." 

The writer takes this account of Mr. Rose, cum 
grano salis, but it may be true. 

The poet sayeth : 



188 sistout of texas. 

'Tis strange — but true; for truth is always strange; 
Stranger than fiction. 

The fondness of the writer for localities made 
famous by the heroic achievements of the founders of 
our glorious republic, has carried him to the Alamo 
with as much zeal as the Mohammedan visits the 
tomb of his prophet. 

Indeed, the Alamo has peculiar interest for every 
Texan who loves his country and is proud of his 
State. But I have stood on Bunker's Hill, Brooklyn 
Heights, and from the deck of a floating palace on 
the bosom of the Father of Waters, viewing the 
plains of Chalmette, revolved in my mind the virtue 
and heroism displayed by American valor and patri- 
otism. 

Even on Plymouth Rock and the field of Lexing- 
ton I have wandered and meditated, comparing the 
illustrious founders and warriors of the nations of 
the Old World with the distinguished heroes and 
statesmen of America. 

At the graves of Washington, Franklin, and Ham- 
ilton I have often pondered upon the lasting fame 
with which their patriotic devotion has caused a 
grateful posterity to stamp their names : 

" First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of their coun- 
trymen." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 189 

Their memory will be cherished with veneration 
by f atm-e generations, when the names of Alexander, 
Caesar, and Napoleon will be forgotten. 

The following sketch from Kennedy may interest 
the reader : 

"Among the slain there was one who, surrounded by 
a heap of the fallen enemy, displayed even in death 
the freshness of the hunter's aspect, and whose eccen- 
tricities, real or reputed, have familiarized England 
with his name — David Crockett, of Tennessee, a char- 
acter inch as could only have been produced and per- 
fected within the limits of his own country. 

" The whole man, physical and mental, was of fron- 
tier growth. His playthings from infancy were the 
axe and the rifle. Few among his youthful companions 
displayed more activity and strength ; none aimed his 
piece with a steadier hand or truer eye. . In the meta- 
phorical eulogy of the western woodsmen, he was 
more than ' a horse,' — he was ' a steamboat.' Dur- 
ing the war of 1812, David took up arms for his 
country, and fought bravely, though no admirer of 
parade or drill. After the war, he turned to indus- 
trial pursuits, and was a successful hunter and thriv- 
ing planter. Hospitality kept cheerful watch at his 
door, and the wayfarer was ever welcome to a plen- 
tiful meal, and a glass of ' old Monongahela.' 

" The amb)ition to be politically distinguished, which 



IQQ HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

prevails wherever free institutions are established, is, 
perhaps, a more active passion in new states than in 
old. Crockett did not escape the general mania for 
public life. His conscience told him that he was an 
honest man, and rumor and the newspapers strangely 
lied if there were many of the same stamp in the great 
house at Washington. E.ef orms were wanting — there 
was no question of that — but means ^'^'ere essential to 
an end, and sound reforms demanded clean-handed 
legislators. David felt that he had a call. He had 
mastered the ' varmint ' of the woods — ' coon,' bear, 
and panther — and why should he not ' use up ' the 
prowlers that preyed upon the commonwealth ? The 
OT-eat Tennessee hunter determined to 'run for Con- 
gress.' 

" The stump of a tree is frequently the rostrum of a 
western orator ; hence the name of ' stump speeches ' 
has l3een given in the States to those morsels of elo- 
quence which are seasoned and sauced exclusively for 
the popular palate. Possessed of robust health and 
powerful lungs, backed by never-faltering perseve- 
rance, Crockett was a giant on the stump. If poor in 
classical lore, he was affluent in the figures and phrase- 
ology of life in the West. After a long and arduous 
struggle, he was chosen a member of Congress for 
Tennessee. 

" His career as a patriotic legislator disappointed his 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 191 

hopes, and fell far short of Ms electioneering promises. 
When he entered Congress he imagined that his prow- 
ess as a hunter and a wrestler would inspire his oppo- 
nents mth awe, and enable him to shoulder the state 
wagon out of the ruts by a few prompt and dexter- 
ous heaves ; but he found difficulties at Washington 
which he never contemplated when an aspirant for 
representative honors. The first thing, he said, that 
' bothered ' him were the Congressional rules and 
orders, and ' what those rascally things were made 
for he could not reckon, for they did no good.' If he 
happened to damage these rules and orders, and then 
got in a ' fair track,' his tongue did not wag so glibly 
as it used to do on the stump, and he frequently found 
himself short of breath and his knees weak when he 
attempted to harangue the House. He could not 
understand this, but he found it was so day after day. 
He often looked round to see if there was any man 
bigger and stronger than himself to produce this quak- 
ing, for, until then, none but a stronger man than 
himself could shake his nerve. His visions of reform, 
one after another, vanished, for he could not make the 
members listen to his reasoning. He began to suspect 
that he had different work to do than when he used to 
go ' a gunning.' Often as he might hit a political 
wild cat, the ' crittur ' held out, as if it had nine 
times the nine lives attributed to grimalkin. 



192 HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

"Many an odd saying and grotesque story was 
fathered on ' Colonel Crockett,' wliose raciness of 
speech and manners was, however, spoiled by mixing 
in political society. He lost the wild originality of 
the frontier, without acquiring the polish or spright- 
liness of city life. Still, Washington had its attrac- 
tions, and he was anxious to retain his place in the 
legislature; but he must have his own way, and 
would not submit to be trammelled ; the consequence 
of which was that his constituents chose a more plia- 
ble candidate. This was a heavy blow to David, 
who had been for years a ' lion,' and to whom excite- 
ment of some kind was indispensable. Disgusted 
with politics, and irritated by public ingratitude, 
military renown acquired fresh attractions in his 
eyes. At this time Texas had raised the standard 
of resistance against military usurpation. To the 
cause of Texan liberty he resolved to devote him- 
self, and, shouldering his rifle, he started for the 
Sabine, and arrived at Nacogdoches, accompanied by 
several volunteers, in the commencement of the war. 
Having determined to become a citizen of Texas, 
he proceeded with his companions to the office of 
Mr. Forbes (then iirst judge of the municipality), 
to take the oath of allegiance, which was tendered 
to him in the following form : 

" ' I do solemnly swear that I will bear true alle-. 



HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 193 

giance to tlie Provisional Government of Texas, or 
any future Government that may be hereafter de- 
(^lared ; and that I will serve her honestly and faith- 
fully against all her enemies and oppressors what- 
soever, and observe and obey the orders of the 
Governor of Texas, the orders and decrees of the 
jDresent or future authorities, and the orders of 
the officers apj)ointed over me according to the rules 
and articles for the government of Texas — so help 
me God.' 

" Crockett was not the man to make a solemn decla- 
ration without scrutinizing its import. He refused 
to take the oath as tendered, stating that although 
he was willing to swear to support any future Repub- 
lican Government, he could not subscribe his name 
to this form, as the 'future' government might be 
despotic. Mr. Forbes then inserted the word 'repub- 
lican ' between the words ' future ' and ' govern- 
ment ; ' and the instrument was signed. The original, 
deposited in the office of the War Department of 
Texas, exhibits the interlineation and the autograph 
of David Crockett. 

" Biography is the handmaid of History, and fre- 
quently a more agreeable companion than her mis- 
tress; I therefore offer no apology for this brief 
notice of one of 'the heroes of the Alamo.' Poor 

David ! thy simple upiightness merited a hapj^ier 
9 



194 HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

end ! Yet, to borrow a phrase of tMne own coin- 
age, tlLOu didst ' go a-head for tlie riglit ; ' and thy 
blood was shed upon a holy altar, and from thy 
smouldering ashes arose a flame which streamed 
from the San Antonio to the Mississippi and Ohio, 
lighting up, in many a generous heart, a fire not to 
be extinguished, so long as those who dishonored thy 
manly form continued to tread the soil in which their 
barbarian vindictiveness denied thee and thy gallant 
comrades the humble privilege of a soldier's grave ! " 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Gcqyture of San Patricio, Befugio, and GOLIAD. — The Mai^sacres of 
Col. Qraufs, Gapt. King^s, Col. Wa7'd^s, and Fannvi's commands, 

"TTTHILE Santa Anna Avas marcliing from tlie Kio 
' ^ Grande upon San Antonio, another division 
of his army, under Gen. Jose Urrea, was advancing 
by the coast route upon San Patricio, Refugio and 
Goliad. 

San Patricio was first attacked, and after an obsti- 
nate defence by some forty or fifty troops under Col. 
F. W. Johnson, was taken by assault, and all its 
defenders killed, except Col. Johnson and four others 
who made their escape. Dr. or Col. Grant, who was 
associated in the command with Col. Johnson, and 
fought gallantly with him at the storming of San 
Antonio, in December, 1835, was out scouting with 
about sixty men at the time of the attack on San 
Patricio, and was ambuscaded at Agua Dulce on the 
2d of March, four days before the fall of the Alamo, 
and his whole party put to death. 

Yoakum says Grant was wounded and taken pris- 
oner ; that his life was spared that the enemy might 
have the benefit of his services in attending their 



196 EISTOMY OF TEXAS. 

numerous wounded, and thus describes his tragic 
end : 

" While Dr. Grant was in San Patricio, curing his 
own wound, and carefully ministering to the wants 
of the wounded of the enemy, he was promised that, 
so soon as he recovered, and those under his care 
were convalescent, he should have a passport to 
leave the country without molestation. The captain 
left in command of the town, after the departure of 
Urrea, secretly despatched eight men in search of a 
wild horse. The animal was captured about three 
weeks after the battle of the 2d of March. Grant 
was now brought forth, and, by order of the captain, 
his feet were strongly bound to those of the horse, 
and his hands to the tail. " Now," said the captain, 
" you have your passport — go ! " At the same 
moment the cords by which the mustang was tied 
were severed. The fierce animal, finding his limbs 
unfettered, sprang away with great violence, leaving 
behind him, in a short distance, the mangled remains 
of poor Grant ! Nothing can be added to this sim- 
ple statement of facts." 

The following autograph letter of Colonel Fannin 
to his fi'iend Mr. Joseph Mims, of Brazoria, corrobo- 
rates the murder of his prisoners by General Urrea at 
San Patricio, and gives an account of his own re- 
sources, embarrassments, and vexatious surroundings: 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 197 

" Goliad, February 28t7i, 18S6. 

" Mk. Joseph Mims : 

" The advice I gave you a few days back is too true — • 
the enemy have the town of Bexar, with a large 
force, and I fear will soon have our brave country- 
men in the Alamo. 

" Another force is near me, and crossed the Neuces 
yesterday morning, and attacked a party by surprise, 
under Colonel Johnson, and routed them, killing Cap- 
tain Raison, and several others, after they had surren- 
dered. I have about four hundred and twenty men 
here, and if I can get provisions in to-morrow or next 
day, can maintain myself against any force. I will 
never give up the ship whilst there is a pea in the 
dish. If I am whipped, it will be well done, and 
you may never expect to see me. 

" I hope to see all Texas in arms soon ; if not, we 
lose our homes, and must go east of the Trinity for a 
while. Look to our property — save it for my family, 
whatever may be my fate. 

" I expect some in about this time, by Cogley, and 
wish you to receive and take care of it. I now tell 
you, be ahvays ready ; I have not as much confidence 
in the people of Texas as I once had ; they have been 
called on and entreated to fly to arms and prevent 
what has now been done. I have but three citizens in the 
ranks, and though I have called on them for six weelcs, 



198 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

not one yet arrived, and no assistance in bringing me 
provisions — even teams refused me. I feel too indig- 
nant to say more about them. If I was honorably out, 
of their service, I would never re-enter it. 

"But I must now play a bold game ; I will go the 
xuliole liog. If I am lost, be the censure on the right 
heads, and may my wife and children, and children's 
children, curse the sluggards yc>r(Si;6'r. I am too mad, 
and too much to do — anything — hut fight. 

"If my family arrive, send my wife this letter. 
Enquire of McKinney. 

" Hoping for the best, being prepared for the worst, 
I am in a devil of a bad humor. 
" Farewell. 

"J. W. FAis-Nm, Jk." 

On the morning of the 14:th of March, Fannin 
received an order from General Houston to evacuate 
Goliad and fall bach on Victoria, when he immediate- 
ly despatched a courier to Ward to return immediately. 
The courier not returning in time, he sent a second, 
and then a third, neither of whom ever returned. 

On the 12th of March, the advance of TJrrea's army 
reached Refugio, and found there twenty men com- 
manded by Captain King, who, vnth the onission as a 
fortification, resolved to defend the place, and sent for 
assistance to Colonel Fannin, then in command of 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 199 

Goliad witli about four liundred men. Colonel Ward, 
with about one liundred troops, was sent by Colonel 
Fannin to the relief of Captain King, and at daylight 
on the morning of the 14th, entered the mission, when 
Captain King with thirteen men were sent out to 
reconnoitre, soon after which General Urrea sur- 
rounded and attacked the mission on all sides, but, after 
repeated assaults, was repulsed with a loss of two 
hundred in killed and wounded, while the Texans lost 
only three severely wounded. 

General Urrea, in giving an account of his attack 
and defeat at Refugio, says : 

"The enemy, though at first confounded by the 
movement, opened a lively fire upon our infantry, the 
greater part of whom, being recruits from Yucatan, 
could not sustain it, and fell back, nor could my 
exertions avail to brino; them forward a2:ain ; and their 
native officers, who, a few moments before, had been 
all boasting and arrogance, disappeared in the most 
critical moment ! These soldiers, with few exceptions, 
do not understand Spanish; and the officers, unac- 
quainted with \hQ\v patois, found it difficult to mako 
them understand the word of command. The infantry 
having fallen back upon a house and court-yard situ- 
ated at fifteen or twenty paces from the church, I 
ordered a part of the cavalry to alight, in order to 
inspirit them by their example, but all would not do. 



200 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

The cavalry alone were unequal to carry tlie place. 
The moment was urgent; and I ordered a retreat, 
which, however, could not be effected with the order 
that disciplined troops would have maintained." 

After fighting gallantly all day long, and having 
almost entirely exhausted their ammunition, at night 
the Texans left their three wounded comrades in the 
mission^ and retreated towards Victoria. On the 
morning of the loth, Urrea took possession of the mis- 
sion, despatched and cast out the dead bodies of the 
wounded Texans, placed therein his own wounded, 
and followed in pursuit of Ward's and King's com- 
mands, which had separated the day before ; King 
having left the fortifications to reconnoitre, and there- 
after having been unable to re-enter. On the morn- 
ing of the 16th, the cavalry of Urrea came up with 
Captain King and the thirteen soldiers under his 
command, surrounded them in the open prairie, with 
their powder wet, and forced their surrender, in six 
hours after which they killed every one of them ! 

On the 17th, Urrea approached Goliad, which was 
occupied by Colonel Fannin with about three hundred 
men, who, after slight skirmishing on the 18th^ on the 
morning of the 19th dismantled the fortifications, 
burned the buildings, and with his little army com- 
menced his retreat towards Victoria, and after march- 
ing nine miles from Goliad, stopped to rest in the open 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 201 

prairie, five miles from tlie Coleta, wHere there was 
abundance of water, not Relieving that the Mexicans 
■would dare follow him ! 

After a halt of about an hour, Colonel Fannin re- 
sumed his retreat towards Victoria, but soon found 
that while he rested the Mexicans had completely sur- 
rounded him in a depression of the plain, six or seven 
feet below the surrounding surface ! 

But notwithstanding such a disadvantageous posi- 
tion, and such an egregious blunder, he formed his 
three hundred Texans into a hollow square, and re- 
pulsed the repeated assaults of the twelve hundred 
infantry and seven hundred cavalry of the enemy. 

The conflict lasted from 1 o'clock p.m. till dark, 
w^hen Urrea drew off his troops with a loss of about 
fifty killed and about one hundred and fifty wounded, 
while the Texan loss was seven killed and ninty-seven 
wounded. 

Colonel A. C. Horton, with twenty-eight horsemen 
from Matagorda, who joined Colonel Fannin on the 
16th, took no part ip this action. He had been sent 
forward to examine the crossing of the Coleta, but 
hearing the noise of battle, galloped back, and seeing 
Fannin surrounded, retreated to Victoria. 

In explanation of this retreat, Captain Shackleford 
says: 

" I candidly believe, even with the luhole of his force, 



202 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

he never could have cut his way through such an 
immense number of Mexican cavalry." 

Yoakum says: 

"They had a full view of the engagement; and, see- 
ing the Texans yqtj nearly surrounded by so large 
a force of the enemy, Horton's lieutenant, Moore^ 
objected to any attempt to reach their comrades by 
penetrating the Mexican lines, alleging that they 
would all be cut to pieces. Immediately he dashed 
off in another direction, taking with him nearly all 
the party." 

Dui'ing the night, which the Texans passed without 
water, they dug trenches, and threw up breastworks, 
preparing to renew the conflict in the morning, while 
the Mexican cavalry sounded their bugles all around 
them until morning. 

No effort was made to retreat or get water during 
the night, and in the morning Col. Fannin, who had 
been shot through the thigh during the battle, and 
with the other wounded was suffering agonies for 
want of water, after a consultation with his officers, 
surrendered himself and his command as prisoners of 
war to Gen. Jose Urrea, the commander of the Mexi- 
can army, and were marched and transported back to 
Goliad and incarcerated in the old mission of La Ba- 
hia, opposite the present town of Goliad. 

Santa Anna upon receiving information of their 



EI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 203 

capture immediately ordered tlieir execution, and on 
Palm Sunday, March 27tli, 1836, the gallant Col. 
Fannin with his command, and Col. Ward, who, with 
his command, w*as overtaken and captured the day after 
the surrender of Fannin, were marched out of the 
mission on the pretence of getting provisions, and all, 
to the number of three hundred and thirty, shot down 
in cold blood, their bodies denied sepulture, and, after 
partial cremation, left on the open plain as food for 
dogs and vultures ! 

Twenty-seven escaped from the slaughter by run- 
ning to the San Antonio River and evading their pursu- 
ers. Of this number was the amiable and accom- 
plished John C. Duval, whose companion or iileman 
on this march to death was a large powerful fellow, 
who received several balls in his body at the same 
time, and falling down upon John, covered his body 
so that the lancers who rode along the line of the 
dead and wounded in order to dispatch all, passed 
John without running him through, when he took to 
his heels, gained the river, plunged in, while a sho^ver 
of bullets followed him, swam for dear life, and 
gained the opposite bank and safety. 

After five days' fasting, thirsting, and walking, he, 
with two companions, got to the Guadalupe River, 
found it swollen by recent rains, when, weary and 
hungry, tLey laid themselves down on the bank for the 



204 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

night, but before sleeping tbey heard, a pig squeal 
near by them. All were up in a moment and went 
for tlie pig, when they found an old sow with five 
pigs, three of which with great difficulty they cap- 
tured, and, after building a fire, roasted mth the hair 
on and ate greedily but joyfully. 

I have heard John Duval say that never before nor 
since had he ate such a delicious supper as he did on 
this occasion ! 

John Duval's account of his escape is corroborated 
by S. T. Brown's, of the Georgia battalion, which 
says : 

" Soon after I made my escape, I was joined by 

John Duval and Holliday, of the Kentucky 

volunteers, both of whom were with me at the massa- 
cre, but not until I had swam across the San Antonio, 
about half a mile from the butchery, 

" For five days we had nothing to eat except wild 
onions, which abound in the country ; when, reaching 
the Gaudalupe, we found a nest of young pigs, and 
these lasted us several days. In the course of a few 
days, wandering at random in the open country, often 
wide off of our supposed direction, we saw fresh signs 
of cavalry, and withdrew to the swamp, but had been 
perceived going there, and were taken by two Mexi- 
cans armed with guns and swords ; that is, Duval and 
myself were captured ; Holliday lay close and was 



mSTOEY OF TEXAS. 205 

not discovered. One of tlie men seized me and lield 
on ; Duval was placed between them to follow on. 
He sprang off, and one man threw down his gun and 
ran after him in vain. Duval made his escape, and I 
have not seen him since." 

Another poor fellow, who was not shot to death, 
when the Mexican lancers passed along after the in- 
fantry had done their work feigned to be dead, but 
not looking like a corpse, a Mexican plunged his 
lance through his breast in order to finish him. 

The wounded Texan, knowing that death would 
surely follow such a rash act, moved not a limb of his 
body nor a muscle of his face, but preserved his 
feigned but not lifeless appearance, to the best of his 
ability, and after the Mexicans retired from this field 
of slaughter, although shot and then thrust through 
the body, he crawled to the San Antonio Eiver, made 
his escape, recovered from his-wounds, and attended 
the Houston Fair in 1874, where he divided honors 
with the surviving veterans of the Texas revolution 
on that memorable occasion. 

To justify the murder of their prisoners taken at 
San Patricio, Refugio and Goliad, the Mexicans plead 
a law of their Supreme Government, to tccke no prison- 
ers., to treat the rehels as j>irates^ and Mil all Texans 
found with arms in their hands. But civilization and 
refinement 



206 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

" Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against 
The deep damnation of their taking-off." 

The Goliad massacre thrilled the American heart 
with horror and astonishment, and was the death- 
knell of Mexican power in Texas. No more success 
attended the victorious murderers, and in less than one 
month. from the date of their atrocities at Goliad, 
they cried for mercy to the heroes of San Jacinto, 
piteously exclaiming : " Me no Alamo ! me no 
Goliad ! " and to the imperishable honor and glory of 
these same heroes, their lives were spared. 

The severe lesson taught by the disasters of San 
Patricio, Eefugio and Goliad should have learned 
Texans obedience to orders, endurance and fortitude 
in their marches, prudence in the selection of their 
camps, and watchfulness all the time. 

Had Col. Fannin obeyed the order of his command- 
ing officer to fall back to Gonzales, or had he marched 
from Goliad to the Coleta without stopping to rest^ or 
had he selected a commanding position for his camp, 
instead of the lowest place in the prairie, his deplora- 
ble defeat and sacrifice might have been avoided. 

San Patricio was surprised^ Cob Grant with his com- 
mand was ambuscaded^ while King and Ward lost the 
way from Refugio to. Goliad, only thirty miles over 
the prairie ! 

After contrasting the sad results of Texan blunders 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 207 

at San Patricio, Refugio, and Groliad with the astute- 
ness displayed by the heroes of San Jacinto in charg- 
ing the Mexicans while napping, we can say with 
truth : Success attends the vigilant^ the active, and the 
hrave — not careless, sleeping toarriors ! 

About three months after the massacre, the hones 
and other remains of Col. Fannin and his comrades 
were gathered together by some Texan troops com- 
manded by Gren. T. J. Rusk and buried in one com- 
mon grave about 300 yards south of the old mission, 
but no monument marks the spot ; however, the pres- 
ent town of Groliad, north of the river, but in sight 
of the old mission, with its beautiful mansions, gar- 
dens and groves, will forever remind Texans of the 
Goliad massacre and the cruel, savage, bloodthirsty, 
prisoner-murdering, priest-ridden Mexicans, who there 
murdered their brethren. 

This brings to mind the address of the General 
Council, 23d October, 1835. 

" Like our fathers of the Revolution" — said the 
address — " we have sworn to live free or die : like our 
fathers of 1^76, we have pledged to each other our 
lives, fortunes, and sacred honors, and have vowed to 
drive every Mexican soldier beyond the Rio Grande, 
or whiten the plains with our bones." 

It is said that in anticipation of returning home 
soon, on the very evening before the execution, the 



208 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

prisoners, who were mostly planters and sons of plant- 
ers from (reorgia and Alabama, were singing and 
playing on flutes and other musical instruments, 
" Home, sweet home ! " 

The veil which hides the future from the present and 
enables poor frail, erring mortals to bear up under 
present misfortunes and suiferiugs, with the hope, in 
the end, of arriving at the goal of success — has been 
called the mercy veil ! 

This mercy veil shut oiit the impending horrors of 
the morrow from the poor prisoners ! Little did they 
dream of Mexican treachery and cruelty ! 

Jack and Travis had been prisoners at Anahuac in 
1831, but they were not killed — the odious Bradburn 
did not murder his prisoners ! 

Even Austin had returned from Mexico after an 
imprisonment of years — the Mexicans did not murder 
their prisoners ! . 

The general condemnation of the President General, 
Santa Anna, for the sacrifice of so many noble and gal- 
lant spirits caused that distinguished butcher to make 
the following defence, which clearly accounts for his 
hating the Texans and his ordering them to be put to 
death. 

He says : " This last event [the surrender of Fan- 
nin and his followers] has been productive of much 
evil to myself, and it is therefore necessary that I 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 209 

should make a short digression respecting it. To avoid 
repetition, I make this observation once for all — the 
war of Texas Avas not only just on the part of Mexico, 
but imperatively called for by the undisguised char- 
acter of the hostility which provoked it. It is noto- 
rious that the soldiers of Travis in the Alamo, those of 
Fannin at Coleta, the riflemen of Dr. Grant, and 
Houston himself and the troops of San Jacinto, with 
very few excejDtions, came from New Orleans and 
other points of the neighboring republic, exclusively 
to support the rebellion in Texas, having had no previous 
relation with the colonists or their enterprises. 

" This country was soon invaded, not by a nation 
recognized as such, coming to vindicate rights positive 
or supposed ; nor yet by Mexicans, led away by a 
political fanaticism to defend or attack the public 
administration of their country ; no, it was invaded by 
men hurried on by the lust of conquest, with rights 
far less apparent and plausible than >Gortes and Pi- 
zarro. As for those who raised the standard of revolt 
throughout the immense territory which Mexico pos- 
sesses, from Bexar to the Sabine, what name shall I 
give them, or how treat them ? The laws, ever in 
vigor, and whose strict observance the government 
earnestly enforces, term them pirates and banditti ; 
and the nations of the world would never have for- 
given Mexico had she treated such men with the re- 



210 HISTORY OF TEXAS. ' 

spect wliicli is due only to tlie honorable, the upright, 
the respecters of the rights of nations. Till then [the 
massacre at Goliad], I had enjoyed among my fellow- 
citizens the reputation — preferable in my mind to that 
of a brave man — the reputation of being humane after 
victories won. So completely unfortunate was I des- 
tined to become, that even the solitary virtue, which 
my bitterest enemies never denied me, is now disputed. 
I am represented as more ferocious than the tiger ; I 
who was ambitious to be distinguished for nothing so 
much as my clemency, in a country that yields to no 
other in humane and generous feeling. The execution 
of Fannin and his followers is the ground on which 
they accuse me of having been barbarous and san- 
guinary. . . . The prisoners at Goliad stood condemn- 
ed by the law, by a universal law, by the right of self- 
protection, which every nation and every individual 
enjoys. They did not surrender under the form of 
capitulation, as General Urrea has shown; how, then, 
could I turn the sword of justice from their heads 
without directing it against my own ? Let it be said 
(though I confess that such is not my opinion) that 
the law is unjust ; yet to impute the homicide to the 
mere instrument, and not to the hand that directs it, 
can there be greater, blindness ? The prisoners were 
in the highest degree embarrassing to the command- 
ant at Goliad ; before talcing to flight they had set fire 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 211 

to the place ; and nothing was left us but the church 
to house the sick and wounded. The sole security of 
the garrison consisted of perpetual vigilance, being 
greatly inferior in number to the prisoners ; our pro- 
visions were barely sufficient for our own people ; we 
were without cavalry to conduct them as far as Meta- 
moras. All these considerations, urged hy the corri- 
mandant of the ^lace., weighed heavily on my mind, 
and tended to bias my resolution. 

" It has been said that a capitulation was made ; 
and although the conduct of General Urrea contra- 
dicts the assertion, I addressed the Supreme Govern- 
ment on the subject, begging that an inquiry might 
be instituted, to show that neither officially nor con- 
fidentially was any knowledge of the same communi- 
cated to me; that had such been the case, though 
General Urrea had no power to grant it, I should 
have been induced, on the score of humanity, to appeal 
to the sovereign pity of Congress to deliver Fannin 
and his soldiers from death. With less motive, and 
taking advantage of their medical skill, several doc- 
tors were saved from death, as well as forty prisoners 
who were employed in the construction of diiferent 
useful things. In fine, eightj^-six men taken in Copano 
were saved, I having drawn up a statement that it 
appeared certain that they never made use of their 
arms, nor had committed any depredation^ though 



212 EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

taken with arms in their hands ; and having submit- 
ted the same to Congress, I entreated their clemency." 

Dr. John Shackleford, a gentlemen of truth and 
integrity says : 

" We then raised a white flag, which was responded 
to by the enemy. Major Wallace was then sent out, 
together with one or two others who spoke the Mexi- 
can language. They shortly returned, and reported 
that the Mexican general could capitulate with the 
commanding officer only. Colonel Fannin, although 
quite lame, then went out with the flag. When he 
was about to leave our lines, the emotions of my mind 
were intense, and I felt some anxiety to hear the de- 
termination of the men. I remarked to him that I 
would not oppose a surrender, provided we could 
obtain an lionorable cajntidation — one on which he 
could rely ; that, if he could not obtain such ' come 
back — our graves are already dug — let us all be buried 
together ! ' To these remarks the men responded in a 
firm and determined manner, and the colonel assured 
us that he never would surrender on any other terms. 
He returned in a short time thereafter, and communi- 
cated the substance of an agreement entered into by 
General Urrea and himself. Colonel Holzinger, a 
German, and an engineer in the Mexican service, to- 
gether with several other officers, then came into our 
lines to consummate the arrangement. The first 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 213 

words Golonel Holzinger uttered, after a very polite 
bow, were, ' Well., gentlemen.^ in eight days., lihey'ty 
and home ! ' I heard tliis distinctly. Tlie terms of 
tLe capitulation were tlien written in both the Eng- 
lish and Mexican languages, and read two or three 
times by officers who could speak and read both 
languages. The instruments which embodied the 
terms of capitulation as agreed on were then signed 
and interchanged in the most formal and solemn man- 
ner, and were in substance as follows : 

" 1. That we should be received and treated as 
prisoners of war, according to the usages of the most 
civilized nations. 

" 2. That private property should be respected and 
restored ; that the side-arms of the officers should be 
given up. 

" 3. That the men should be sent to Copano, and 
thence to the United States in eight days, or so soon 
thereafter as vessels could be procured to take them. 

" 4. That the officers should be paroled, and retui'n 
to the United States in like manner. 

" I assert most positively that this capitulation 
was entered into, without which a suiTender never 
would have been made." 

"Here let me remark that I have read General 
Urrea's pamphlet On this point, as well as 



214 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

his denial of any capitulation, I never read a more 
Yiilainous falsehood from the pen of any man who 
aspired to the rank of general." — lb. 

''' On passing from one part of the wounded to an- 
other, I made it convenient to see Fannin, and stated 
to him how badly we were treated. 

" He immediately wrote to Gen. TJrrea adverting to 
the terms of our capitulation. Urrea wrote to Por- 
tilla in answer : ' Treat the prisoners mth considera- 
tion, and particularly their leader, Fannin.' " 

Gen. Urrea's pamphlet, referred to by Dr. ShacMe- 
f ord, contains the following extracts from his campaign 
diary : " All the assurance I could make him, Fannin, 
was, that I would interpose in his behalf with the 
general-in-chief, which I accordingly did, in a letter 
from Victoria. 

" After my ultimatum, the leaders of the enemy's 
forces conferred together, and the result of their de- 
liberations was to surrender upon the terms proposed. 
They at the same time gave orders to those under 
their command to come forth and pile their arms. 
Nine pieces of artillery, three standards, more than a 
thousand muskets, a quantity of pistols, rifles, and 
dirks, of superior quality, a number of wagons, and a 
considerable quantity of provisions, together with 
about four hundred prisoners, remained in the hands 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 0][5 

of the army, among wliom were ninty -seven wounded, 
Fannin and others of the leading men being among 
the number. I gave orders that the whole of them, 
with their baggage, should march to Groliad, guarded 
by two hundred infantry, and that such of the wound- 
ed as were unable to proceed should be conveyed in 
carts, wagons, and other vehicles found in the enemy's 
camp. Twenty-seven of their dead, of the day pre- 
vious, were interred, together with eleven of our own. 
We }i2idi forty-nine soldiers wounded, andji?^6 officers, 
among whom was Captain Ballasteros, severely." 

" March 21. — At daybreak I continued my march, 
and at seven o'clock took possession of Victoria. 

'■'■ March 22. — I marched, with two hundi'ed foot 
and fifty horse, to a mountain pass called Las Juntas. 
Here I met with four men from Ward's company, 
who were in search of provisions, and from them I 
learned that the whole band was in ambush in a 
neighboring wood. I immediately surrounded it, and 
sent in one of the prisoners to announce to his leader 
and companions, that unless they surrendered at dis-' 
cretion they would be cut to pieces. Mr. Ward, 
known under the title of their colonel, desired to 
speak with me; and after a few minutes' conversa- 
tion, he with his troop of one hund/t^ed men suri'en- 
dered at discretion. 

^^ March 23. — In this place I received advice that 



21Q HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

eigMy-two of tlie enemy liad surrendered in Copano, 
with all their arms, ammunition, and provisions." 

But Santa Anna's order to Urrea convicts Mm. 
It is as follows : 

" To General Uhrea, Oommaiider, etc. : 

[Official.] " In respect to the prisoners of whom 
you speak in your last communication, you must not 
fail to bear in mind the circular of the Supreme. Gov- 
ernment, in which it is decreed, that foreigners invad- 
ing the republic, and taken with arms in their hands, 
shall be judged and treated as pirates ; and as, in my 
view of the matter, every Mexican guilty of the crime 
of joining these adventurers loses the rights of a citi- 
zen by his unnatural conduct, the five Mexican pris- 
oners whom you have taken ought also to suffer as 
traitors." 

[Unofficial.] " In regard to foreigners who make 
war, and those unnatural Mexicans who have joined 
their cause, you will remark that what I have stated 
to you officially is in accordance with the former pro- 
visions of the Supreme Government. An example is 
necessary, in order that those adventurers may be duly 
warned, and the nation be delivered from the ills she 
is daily doomed to suffer. 

"AisTTOisrio Lopez de Santa Anna. 

''General Quarters, Bexar, March 8, 1836." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 217 

" To General Ueeea, etc. : 

" Under date of the present, I liave stated to the 
commandant of the post of Goliad, as follows : 

" By a communication made to me by Colonel D. F. 
Garay, of that place, I am informed that there have 
been sent to you by General Urrea, two hundred and 
thirty-four prisoners, taken in the action of JEJncinal 
del Perdido (Coleta), on the 19th and 20th of. the 
present month ; and as the Supreme Government has 
ordered that all foreigners taken with arms in their 
hands, making war upon the nation, shall be treated 
as pirates, I have been surprised that the circular of 
the said Supreme Government has not been fully com- 
plied with in this particular. I therefore order that 
you should give immediate effect to the said ordinance 
in respect to all those foreigners who have yielded to 
the force of arms, having had the audacity to come and 
insult the republic, to devastate with fire and sword, 
as has been the case in Goliad, causing vast detriment 
to our citizens; in a word, shedding the precious 
blood of Mexican citizens, whose only crime has been 
their fidelity to their country. I trust that, in refly 
to this, you will inform me \}ii2^\> jpublic vengeance has 
heen satisfied by the punishment of such detestable 
delinquents. I transcribe the said decree of the Gov- 
ernment for youi' guidance, and that you may strictly 

fulfil the same, in the zealous hope that, for the future, 
10 



218 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the provisions of the Supreme Govermnent may not, 
for a moment, be infringed. 

"Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. 

" Headqtjabters, Bexar, March 3, 1836," 

If any other proof should be necessary to convict 
him, the reader is supplied with the following : 

" From the Commandant at Goliad to General TIrrea,. 

" In compliance with the definitive orders of his 
excellency the general-in-chief , which I received direct, 
at four o'clock to-morrow morning the prisoners sent 
by you to this fortress will be shot. I have not ven- 
tured to. execute the same sentence on those who sur- 
rendered to Colonel Vara, at Copano, being unac- 
quainted with the particular circumstances of their 
surrender ; and I trust you will be pleased to take 
upon youi'self to save my responsibility in this regard, 
by informing me what I am to do with them. 

"J. N. DE POETILLA. 
" Goliad, MoA-ch 26, 1836." 

Further from, the Diary of General TIrrea. 

" March 24-27. — These days were passed in neces- 
sary regulations, in refitting the troops, and in the 
care of the sick and wounded. On the 25th I sent 
Ward and his companions to Goliad. On the 27th, 



EISTORT OF TEXAS. 219 

between nine and ten o'clock in tlie morning, I received 
a communication from Lieutenant-Colonel Portilla, 
military commandant of Goliad, informing me tliat he 
liad received an order from liis excellency the com- 
mander-in-chief, to shoot all the prisoners there, and 
that he had resolved to comply with the same. The 
order in question was received by Portilla at seven 
o'clock on the evening of the 26th ; he communicated 
it to me the same date, but necessarily it only came to 
my knowledge after the execution had taken place. 
Every soldier in my division was confounded at the 
news ; all ivas amazement and consternation. I was 
no less struck to the heart than my companions in 
arms, who stood there the witnesses of my sorrow ; 
let one of those present at that painful moment deny 
the fact. More than a hundred and fifty of those 
who fortunately remained w4th me escaped this catas- 
trophe, consisting of those who had surrendered at 
Copano, together with the surgeons and young men 
whom I had placed to tend on the hospitals, whose 
services, as well as those of many of the prisoners, 
v/ere very important to the army. 

" The melancholy event of which I here speak has 
caused a more than ordinary sensation, not only among 
my own countrymen, but among strangers the most dis- 
tant from us. Nor have those been wanting who would 
fix the fearful responsibility on me, although nothing 



220 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

could be more clear and unequivocal than my conduct 
in regard to this horrid transaction. 

" Nothing could be more painf al to me than the 
idea of sacrificing so many gallant men, and particu- 
larly the amiable, spirited, and soldier-like Fannin. 
They certainly surrendered in the full confidence that 
Mexican generosity would not be sterile in their re- 
gard; they assuredly did so, or otherwise they would 
have resisted to the last, and sold their lives as dearly 
as possible." 

The conclusion is plain, Urrea tried to save his pris- 
oners, but Gen. Santa Anna refused, and ordered their 
execution — he 'alone is responsible for the Goliad 

Massacee. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Retreat of Gen. Houston fi"om Gonzales to the Navidad ; thence to 
the Colorado and the Brazos. — Santa Anna passes him. — The Twin 
Sisters. — The Panic. — Address of the Secretary of War. — Houston pur- 
sues Santa Anna. — The two encamp on the plains of San Jacinto. 

E will now turn from the sad and mournful 
details of tlie fate of the noble and gallant 
gentlemen who perished at Goliad, to the operations 
of General Houston and his army at Gonzales. On 
the 6th of March, the memorable date of the fall 
of the Alamo, he set out from San Felipe for Gon- 
zales, and arrived there just in time to hear its 
mothers, widows, and orphans weeping and agonizing 
over the loss of their sons, husbands, and fathers, who, 
after fighting like heroes against overwhelming num- 
bers, died as the bravest of the brave at the Thermo- 
pylae of Texas. As Capt. R. E. Handy wrote to 
J. J. R. Pease : " For four-and-twenty hours after the 
news reached us, not a sound was heard, save the 
wild shrieks of women, and the heart-rending screams 
of their fatherless children. Little groups of men 
might be seen in various corners of the town, brood- 
ing over the past, and speculating of the future ; but 



222 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

they scarcely spoke above a wMsper. The public 
and private grief were alike heavy. It sank deep 
into the heart of the rudest soldier." 

Gen. Houston at first did not believe the report, 
and wrote to the chairman of the military committee 
on the 13th March: " I am using all my endeavors to 
get a company to send in view of the Alamo ; and, if 
possible, arrive at the certainty of what all believe — ■ 
its fall. The scarcity of horses, and the repulse of a 
party of twenty-eight men, the other day, within 
eighteen miles of Bexar, will, I apprehend, prevent 
the expedition. 

'^ This moment, Deaf Smith and Henry Karnes have 
assured me that they will proceed in sight of Bexar ; 
and return within three days. The persons, whose 
statement is enclosed for your information, are in 
custody ; and I will detain them, for the present, as 
spies. 

"I beg leave to suggest the great importance of for- 
tifications on Live-Oak Point and Copano, and the 
defence of Matagorda and Lavaca Bays. 

" You may rest assured that I shall adojDt and pursue 
such course of conduct as the present emergencies of 
the country require, and as the means placed at my 
disposal may enable me to do, for the defence of the 
country and the protection of its inhabitants. 

"The projected expedition to Matamoras, under the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 223 

agency of the Council lias already cost us over two 
hundred and thirt3^-seven lives ; and where the effects 
are to end, none can foresee. Dr. Grant's party, 
as well as Colonel Johnson's, have been murdered. 
Major Morris, as reported, was struck down with a 
lance while gallantly fighting. Dr. Grrant surren- 
dered, and was tied by the enemy. Be pleased to 
send all possible aids to the army ; and keep an eye 
to the coast. 

" Intelligence from the seat of government, if favor- 
able, has a most happy effect upon the spirits of the 
men. Frequent expresses sent to me, may be highly 
beneficial to the army." 

" On the night of the same day, after burning Gon- 
zales to the ground, he retreated eastward, before the 
victorious Mexicans, attended by the panic-stricken 
inhabitants of Gonzales and the surrounding country." 

The following official letter explains the cause and 
gives an account of his situation : 

" Camp at Navidad, MarcJi 15, 1836. 

" To James Collingsworth, 

'■'' O hairman of Military Committee. 

" Sir : Since I had the honor to address you from 
Gonzales, the lady of Lieutenant Dickinson, who fell 
at the Alamo, has arrived, and confirms the fall of 
that place, and the circumstances, prefcty much as my 



224 ^ HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

express detailed them. She returned in company 
with two negroes — one the servant of Colonel Travis, 
the other a servant of Colonel Almonte. They both 
corroborate the statement first made and forwarded 
to you. Other important intelligence arrived at 
Gonzales — that the army of Santa Anna had en- 
camped at the Cibolo on the night of the 11th inst., 
after a march of twenty-four miles that day. The 
army was to encamp on the 12th at Sandy, and pro- 
ceed direct to Gonzales. The number of the enemy 
could not be ascertained, but was represented as ex- 
ceeding two thousand infantry. Upon this statement 
of facts, I deemed it proper to fall back and take post 
on the Colorado, near Burnham's, which is fifteen 
miles distant from this point. My morning report, 
on my arrival in camp, showed three hundred and 
seventy four effective men, without two days' provis- 
ions, many without arms, and others without any 
ammunition. We could have met the enemy, and 
avenged some of our wrongs ; but, detached as we 
were, without supplies for the men in camp, of either 
provisions, ammunition, or artillery, and remote from 
succor, it would have been madness to hazard a con- 
test. I had been in camp two days only, and had 
succeeded in organizing the troops. But they had 
not been taught the first principles of the drill. If 
starved out, and the camp once broken up, there was 



niSTOBT OF TEXAS. 225 

no Lope for the future. By falling back, Texas cau 
rally, and defeat any force that can come against her. 

" I received the intelligence of the enemy's advance 
between eight and nine o'clock at night ; and, before 
twelve, we were on the march in good order, leaving 
a number of spies, who remained and were reinforced 
next morning by a number of volunteers and brave 
spirits from Peach Creek. H. Karnes, K. E. Handy, 
and Captain Chenowith, have been very active. Only 
about twenty persons deserted the camp (from the 
first sensation produced by the intelligence) up to 
this time. I intend desertion shall not be frequent ; 
and I regret to say that I am compelled to regard as 
deserters all who have left camp without leave ; to 
demand their apprehension; and that, whenever ar- 
rested, they be sent to me at head-quarters for trial. 
They have disseminated throughout the frontier such 
exaggerated reports that they have produced dismay 
and consternation among the people to a most dis- 
tressing extent. 

"I do not apprehend the immediate approach of the 
enemy upon the present settlements ; I mean those on 
the Colorado, for the country west of it is an unin- 
habited waste. This season the grass refuses- to grow 
on the prairies; 

" When the approach of the enemy was known, there 

were but two public wagons and two yoke of oxen in 
10* 



226 MIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

camp, and tlie few horses we had were very poor. I 
hope to reach the Colorado on to-morrow, and collect 
an army in a short time. I sent my aide-de-camp. 
Major William T. Austin, to Columbia this morning, 
for munitions and supplies, to be sent me immediately ; 
and to order the troops now at Yelasco to join me, 
provided they had not been previously ordered by 
you to fortify Copano and Dimit's Landing. I am 
fearful Goliad is besieged by the enemy. My order 
to Colonel Fannin, directing the place to be blown up, 
the cannon to be sunk in the river, and to fall back 
on Victoria, would reach him before the enemy could 
advance. That they have advanced upon the place 
in strong force, I have no doubt ; and when I heard 
of the fall of the Alamo, and the number of the 
enemy, I knew it must be the case. 

" Our forces must not be shut up in forts, where 
they can neither be supplied with men nor provisions. 
Long aware of this fact, I directed, oh the 16th of 
January last, that the artillery should be removed, 
and the Alamo blown up ; but it was prevented by 
the expedition upon Matamoras, the author of all our 
misfortunes. 

" I hope that our cruisers on the gulf will be active, 

and that Hawkins and. may meet the notice of 

the Government. Let the men of Texas rally to the 
Colorado ! 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 227 

" Enclosed you will receive the address of General 
Santa Anna, sent by a negro, to tlie citizens. It is in 
Almonte's handwriting. Santa Anna was in Bexar 
when the Alamo was taken. His force in all, in 
Texas, is, I think, only five or six thousand men — 
though some say thirty thousand ! This cannot be 
true. Encourage volunteers from the United States 
■ — but I am satisfied we can save the country. Had 
it not been for the Council, we would have had no 
reverses. W"e must have the friendship of the Co 
manches and other Indians. 

" Gonzales is reduced to ashes ! 

" I have the honor, etc., 
"Sam Houston, 

" Commanding GeneraV 

From the Navidad he fell back to Burnham's, on 
the Colorado, and on the l7th of March wrote to Col- 
lingsworth : 

"To-day, at half -past four in the afternoon, I 
reached this point with about six hundred men, in- 
cluding my rear-guard, which is a few miles behind 
with the families, which were not known to be on the 
route as the army marched, and for which the guard 
were sent back. 

" It pains my heart that such consternation should 
have been spread by the deserters from camp. We 



228 EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

are here ; and, if only three hundred men remain on 
this side of the Brazos, I will die with them, or con- 
quer our enemies. I would most respectfully suggest 
the assemblage of the troops at this point. It covers 
more of the country than any other known to me. 
When they are assembled, I will detach suitable num- 
bers to each point as I may deem best." 

On the 23 d, says Yoakum, the government in- 
formed him that "orders were in execution for the 
mustering into service of two-thirds of the militia of 
the country. 'These,' said the Secretary of War, 
' with the aid from the United States, will, if you' 
can hold the enemy in check long enough for their; 
concentration, present an insurmountable barrier to; 
the progress of the enemy into the country.' ' One, 
great object should be,' observes the Secretary of War,, 
in a letter of the same date, ' to hold him in check' 
until reinforcements and supplies can reach you. 
Every means has been put into requisition for the, 
purpose of forwarding on both.' " 

On the same day he wrote to the Secretary of War, 
unofficially : 

" Dear Colokel : To-day I had the pleasure to re-; 
ceive your two letters by Mr. Walker. I thank you 
for them, and snatch a moment from the press of busi- 
ness to say a few things in compliance with your re- 
quest, as well as to gratify my personal feelings. I 



HIBTORT OF TEXAS. 229 

have had no aid or assistance but my friend HocMey, 
who now fills your former station. " By-the-by, I offer 
you my gratulations on your advancement. I trust 
you will find in me a worthy subaltern. You know 
I am not easily depressed, but, before my God, since 
we parted, I have found the darkest hours of my past 
life ! My excitement has been so great, that, for 
forty-eight hours, I have not eaten an ounce, nor have 
I slept. I was in constant apprehension of a rout ; 
a constant panic existed in the lines : yet I managed 
so well, or such was my good luck, that not a gun 
was fired in or near the camp, or on the march (except 
to kill beef), from the Gruadalupe to the Colorado. 
All would have been well, and all at peace on this 
side of the Colorado, if I could only have had a mo- 
ment to start an express in advance of the deserters ; 
but they went first, and, being panic-strack, it was 
contagious, and all who saw them breathed the poison 
and fled. It was a poor compliment to me to suppose 
that I would not advise the Convention of any neces- 
sity which might arise for their removal. I sent 
word and advices, the first moment of leisure, to the 
Convention ; and all was calm in my communications 
to Mr. Collingsworth. I had to advise troops and 
persons of my falling back, and had to send one 
guard thirty miles for a poor blind widow (and six 
children), whose husband was killed in the Alamo. 



230 mSTOBY OF TEXAS. 

The families are now all on this side of the Guada- 
lupe. These things pained me infinitely, and, with 
the responsibility of my command, weighed upon me 
to an agonizing extent. '' 

" This moment an express has arrived, and states 
that Fannin took up his retreat on Saturday last 
(19th), and, a few miles from La Bahia, he was at- 
tacked by the Mexican army and surrounded about 
an hour and a half before sundown. The battle con- 
tinued in the night, and the result is not known. The 
express states that Colonel Ward's command had not 
returned. I am at a loss to know how matters stand. 
I will try and make a good report for the future. 
The Matamoras policy, I hope, is now run out ; and the 
evils, growing out of the conduct of the Council, ended. 

" Changing this from a familiar to an official charac- 
ter, T must say that, if we are to meet an accession of 
force, which must be the case if Fannin is cut off, we 
must have the strength of the country. Arms and 
ammunition have just reached camp, and I hope what 
men we have will be well armed and supplied with 
fio-hting; materials. 

" Two spies have been taken to-day, and they report 
the forpe of the enemy in this quarter less than I had 
before heard it. Let the Mexican force be what it 
may, if the country will turn out, we can beat them. 
The retreat of the government will have a bad effect 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 231 

on the troops, aud I am half-provoked at it myself. 
The Mexicans cannot fight us upon anything like fair 
terms. ... I will get any advantage I can if I fight. 
If what I have heard from Fannin be true, I deplore 
it, and can only attribute the ill luck to his attempt- 
ing to retreat in daylight in the face of a superior 
force. He is an ill-fated man. 

"Do all you can. The troops are in fine spirits, 
but how this news will a:ffect them I know not. Our 
spies have taken two of the enemy to-day, but I have 
not yet had time to examine them. I will in a few 
moments. 

" 24?^A. — I have examined the spies, and they repre- 
sent the enemy, much weaker than all former reports. 
They say Sesma has not more than seven hundred 
men, and one says six hundred." 

Reinforcements came in very slowly, yet by the 
25 th the Texan army had increased to seven hundred 
men, and General Houston was making preparations 
to attack the advancing enemy, when the sad news 
of the defeat and surrender of Fannin and his army 
at the Coleta, on the 20th, and the caj^itulation of 
Ward and King's commands on the 16th and 20th 
of March, 1836, threw a damper over the cause of 
Texaii independence, his troops and himself, causing 
the retreat of the Texans from the Colorado to San 
Felipe, where they arrived on the 28th. 



232 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The next day lie wrote to tlie Secretary of War, 
Col. T. J. Eusk : 

" Camp near Mill Creek, Marcli 29, 1836. 

" Sir: On my arrival on the Brazos, had I consulted 
the wishes of all, I should have been like the ass be- 
tween two stacks of hay. Many wished me to go be- 
low, others above. I consulted none. I held no 
councils of war. If I err, the blame is mine. I find 
Colonel Hockley, of my staif, a sage counsellor and 
true friend. My staff are all M^orthy, and merit well 
of me. 

" There was on yesterday, as I understood, much dis- 
content in the lines, because I would not fall down 
the river. If it should be wise for me to do so, I can 
cross over at any time, and fall down to greater ad- 
vantage and safety. I apprehend, in consequence of 
my falling back, that the enemy may change their 
route to Matagorda. I ordered all the men residing 
on the coast, and those arriving from the United States 
at or south of Yelasco, to remain and fortify at some 
safe point ; and, on yesterday, I sent Colonel Harcourt, 
as principal engineer of the army, down to the coast, 
to erect fortifications at the most eligible point of de- 
fence. I placed at his. disposal the resources of the 
lower country for its defence and protection. 

" I pray God that you would get aid, speedy aid, fi'om 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 233 

the United States ; or, after all inducements, we must 
suffer. I hope to-day to receive ninety men from tlie 
Ked-lands. I cannot now tell my force, but will soon 
be able. The enemy must be crippled by the fights 
they have had with our men. I have ordered D. C. Bar- 
rett and E. Gritton to be arrested and held subject to 
the futui-e order of the government. I do think 
they ought to be detained and tried as traitors and 
spies. 

" For Heaven's sake, do not drop back again with 
the seat of government! Your removal to Harris- 
burg has done more to increase the panic in the coun- 
try than anything else that has occurred in Texas, 
except the fall of the Alamo. Send fifty agents, if 
need be, to the United States. Wharton writes me, 
from Nashville, that the ladies of that place have 
fitted out, at their own expense, no less than two 
hundred men. . . . 

" If matters press upon us, for G-od's sake let the 
ti'oops land at Galveston bay, and by land reach the 
Brazos ! Let no troops march with baggage-wagons, 
or wagons of any kind. 

"Truly, etc., Sam Houston." 

" To-day I send Captain Smith to you, agreeably to 
your order. Great prosperity to you and the coun- 
try, etc." 



234 EI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 

After writing this letter to the Secretary of War, 
on the same day he wi'ote to his friend, William 
Christy, a noble and valuable frieyid to Texas^ the fol- 
lowing patriotic appeal : 

" Head-quarteks, Camp Mill Cheek, Mai^ch 29, 1836. 

" To William Chkisty, iV^w Orleans. 

" Deae Sik : I have ordered Captain David N. Burke 
and Edward Conrad to New Orleans, to procure men 
for the army of Texas. The present is probably the 
most important moment we have to experience. We 
now stand before the world as a nation, and stand 
almost alone. But for the assistance upon which we 
confidently rely from our brethren in the United 
States, we shall not be enabled to maintain the j)osi- 
tion we have assumed. With equal confidence I look 
to you for the immediate use of all the influence in 
your power to sustain our cause. I look to you as 
the most efficient and zealous agent of our country. 
Do exert all the talent and means you can command, 
for now is the time of need. Captain Burke and Mr. 
Conrad will bear this letter to you, with my orders : 
be good enough to render them all the assistance in 
your power. 

" I have the honor, etc., 

" Sam HousTOif." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 235 

The Government on the 2 2d of March, was moved, 
or rather moved from Washington on the Brazos to 
Harrisburg. 

The effect of this move was to increase the panic, 
and cause soldiers to leave the army for the protection 
of their families. Says Yoakum : 

" The voice of sorrow and despondency that came 
from the flying inhabitants touched the hearts of the 
small band who had ventured everything in this last 
effort for life and liberty. It did more — ^it prevented 
volunteers from coming from the east. The panic, as 
it travelled in that direction, had greatly increased. 
Citizens east of the Neches believed their danger more 
imminent than those west of the Trinity. Hence, 
able-bodied men were retained to defend families and 
neighborhoods. To add to the terror and distress, 
particularly in 'eastern Texas, there were some bad 
men who spread false alarms for the sake of plunder. 
It was understood, and perhaps with some truth, that 
all Americans, whether combatants or not, were to be 
driven from the country." 

The gallant John W. Smith, who rode in and out 
of the Alamo while it was invested, wrote : "I 
find many wagons and carts with lone families, and 
three or fonr men with them, and many of them 
single men. If possible, an arrangement "should be 
made, and the Committees of Safety or some other 



236 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

authority should stop and compel to return to the 
army all persons not having a passport." 

" The extent of alarm and confusion arising from 
the flight of the citizens was at this time most distress- 
ing. Samuel P. Carson, the Secretary of the Navy, 
writing to President Burnet from Liberty, says : "I 
have issued orders to two different persons — one for 
Trinity and one for the Neches — to press boats, etc., 
to aid the people in crossing. The panic has reached 
this place, and the people are all leaving Trinity from 
the opposite (west) side, and preparations making by 
many on this. The river is rising rapidly, and I fear 
by to-night it will be impassable for any kind of car- 
riage. The ' slues ' on this side are belly-deep. There 
must be three hundred families — I know not the num- 
ber of wagons, carts, caniages, etc. Destruction per- 
vades the whole country. I must speak plainly — the 
relations existing between us, and the responsibility 
which rests on us, make it my duty. Never till I 
reached Trinity have I desponded — I will not say, 
desjpaired. If Houston has retreated, or been whipped, 
nothing can save the people fi'om thetnselves : their 
ovm conduct has brought this calamity on them ! If 
Houston retreats, the flying people may be covered 
in their escape. Pie must be advised of the state of 
the waters, and the impossibility of the people cross- 
ing." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 237 

" In fact, on every road leading eastward in Texas, 
were found men, women, and children, moving 
through the country over swollen streams and muddy 
roads, strewing the way with their property, crying 
for aid, and exposed to the fierce northers and rains of 
spring. The scene was distressing indeed ; and, being 
witnessed by the small but faithful army of Texans, 
whose wives and families they were, thus exposed 
and suffering, nerved their arms and hearts for the 
contest then not distant." (Yoakum 2d, 118, 119.) 

On the 31st of March, Gen. Houston wrote to Col. 
Kusk, Secretary* of "War, from camp west of Brazos : 

" Sir : I have the honor to report to you my arrival 
at this point, with a view to receive reinforcements 
and supplies. It is the best and nearest route to 
Harrisburg, or the Bay, at which I could have struck 
the Brazos, and it will prevent the whole country 
passing the Trinity. The force of the enemy has 
been greatly exaggerated, I have no doubt. But the 
deserters have spread universal alarm throughout the 
country. 

" I wish you to send flour, sugar, and coffee, on pack- 
horses, to this point, as soon as possible. Don't send 
by wagons ; and let the pack-horses be well hobbled 
at night. My horses and baggage-wagons in camp 
give me all the care I have, except my general solid- 



238 



HISTORY OF TEXAS.- 



tilde. One of my spies has jnst returned from a 
scout, and reports tliat lie went ten miles beyond St. 
Bernard, on the road to Season's, and saw nothing 
of the enemy. Two others went on, and said they 
vvoiild see tbe enemy if they had to cross the Colo- 
rado. Mr. E. Smith (Deaf) is out, and, if living, I 
v/ill hear the truth and all important news. 

" For Heaven's sake, do allay the fever and chill 
which prevails in the country, and let the people 
from the east march to the camp ! Supplies are 
needed on the route from Nacogdoches to this point. 
The enemy would have been beaten at the Colorado. 
My intention was to have attacked him on the second 
night after the day on which the news of Fannin's de- 
struction was reported by Kerr— but for that news, 
and the march of strong reinforcements, probably 
arriving that night, to the enemy. Previous to 
that, the troops were in fine spirits, and keen for 
action. 

" The reinforcements promised to our army never 
arriving, has kept us in a mood not so enviable as 
could be wished for. Send daily expresses to me, 
and do let me know what to rely upon. I must let 
the camp know something, and I want everything 
promised to be realized by them. I hope I can keep 
them together; I have, thus far, succeeded beyond 
my hopes. I will do the best I can ; but, be assured, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 239 

the fame of Jackson could never compensate me for 
my anxiety and mental pain. 

" I have the honor, etc., 

" Sam Houston." 

" P.S. — I have somewhere between seven and eight 
hundred effective men. Two nights since, when it 
was reported that the enemy were on this side of the 
Colorado, the citizens of San Felipe reduced it to 
ashes. There was no order from me for it.* I am 
glad of it, should the enemy march there. Our 
troops have suffered from heavy rains and dreadful 
roads." 

General Houston has been severely censured for 
his retreat from the Colorado to the Brazos. Mr. 
Richardson, in his " History of Texas," says : 

" That an extensive and, in some instances, intense 
excitement had been produced by the fall of the Alamo 
and its sequents, is both natural and true. But it is 
equally true that many brave men in the west, whose 
property and families were most exposed to the 
ravages of war, repaired with alacrity to the army.. 
The panic and its effects have been exaggerated for 
selfish purposes. The army at Beason's received daily 

* " It has been said you ordered the burning- of San Felipe. I have con- 
tradicted it. I would like to be fully satisfied on the subject." — David 
TJiomas, Acting Secretary of War, to General Houston, April 8, 1836. 



240 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

accessions of men, who came to figM tJie enemy, and 
preserve tlieir family hearths from desecration. How 
far the people of eastern Texas yielded to the panic 
we have no reliable authority to assert. But Mr. 
Yoakum had a case to make out, and he found it ex- 
pedient to resort to quirks and quibbles. 

" Almost simultaneous with Houston's arrival at 
Season's, the Mexican General Sesma, with a force 
variously estimated at 600 to 800 men (60 or 70 be- 
ing cavalry), and two field-pieces, took position on 
the right bank of the Colorado. On the 20th, Capt. 
Karnes crossed the river on a spying trip, with five men. 
He met twelve Mexicans, and dispersed them, killing 
one, and capturing one and three horses. Another pas- 
sage of the river was made by 150 men, but resulted 
in nothing. The enemy had placed himself in a bend 
of the river, about midway between the two fords — 
Beason's and Dewees'. From the Texan camp to De- 
wees', around the bend, was six to seven miles : on a 
straight line crossing the river, not more than two 
miles. To prevent Sesma's crossing at Dewees', Capt. 
Patton was detailed, with some fifty men, to that point ; 
and soon afterwards. Col. Sherman was despatched, 
with 100 men, to command that interesting position. 
Sherman's division was soon enlarged by volunteers 
from outside, to 350 or 400. Large additions were 
also ma.de to the camp at head-quarters. There is no 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 241 

one matter of fact connected witli tMs campaign that 
has been more controverted and misstated tlian the 
number of men composing the army at the Colorado. 
"We trust the subjoined statements, by gentlemen who 
were present, and of unimpeachable veracity, will put 
an end to the strife. They are excerpts from manu- 
scripts, which will be left at the office of The Gal- 
veston JSfews for inspection. 

"Col. Ben. F. Smith, acting Quartermaster and 
Adjt.-Greneral, says: 'The number of men mustered 
in the army under Gen. Houston, at the time of the 
retreat from the Colorado, mentioned above, was 
about 1,360 ; and the men, to a man, were ready and 
eager for battle.' This was sworn to. Ex-President 
Anson Jones, who was with the army, says : ' On the 
morning we retreated from the Colorado, we had, by 
the official report of the day, over 1,500 effective 
men (I think 1,570). I assisted CoL John A. Whar- 
ton, the Adjt.-Greneral, in making up his report. On 
the same morning, there were at least 100 men in 
camp who had not enrolled themselves in any com- 
pany, but were ready and willing to fight. On the 
same morning, there were many on the way to join 
the army, enough to have increased the number to 
2,000 or more in ten days. On the same day we were 
opposed by General Sesma, with only 600 to 700 



11 



242 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

"Major William I. E. Heard — his communication 
being signed by Eli Mercer — says : 'Our numerical 
force was from 1,500 to 1,600 men, the morning the 
army left the Colorado. I believe this because the 
issuing commissary told me that morning that there 
were 1,600 drew rations. The Mexican forces were 
reported by our spies to be between seven and eight 
hundred men, at the time our army left the Colorado. 
Our men were more anxious to engage the Mexicans 
than I ever saw one set of men to engage another, 
except at San Jacinto.' 

" Col. Amasa Turner, then commanding a company 
of regulars, who joined the army on the morning of 
the retreat, and who now lives on the La Vaca, says : 
' In relation to the number of men which composed 
the army at the time Gen. Houston left the Colorado, 
I am confident I am not mistaken. The morning re- 
port, including Sherman's command, was 1,464, rank 
and file. Roman's and Fisher's companies joined at 
the first camp (after the retreat), five miles from the 
Colorado. These would swell the number to 1,568, 
at the five-mile camp.' We have a printed handbill, 
issued by Capt. John Sharp, and dated Brazoria, 
March 27, 1836, in which the following occurs : ' Our 
army, now encamped at or near Season's, on the Colo- 
rado, consists of 1,000 to 1,200 men, and reinforce- 
ments coming in hourly. They are all well armed. 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 243 

with plenty of provisions, ammunition, etc., and are 
in good spirits. On my way down, I met several 
small companies pushing on for our camp ; and those 
that came from the eastward, report from 300 to 500 
men on their way from that quarter.' Capt. Sharp 
had been forty hours from the camp. 

" Gen. Houston, with at least 1,500 to 1,600 Texans, 
and as brave a band as ever drew a trigger, fled from 
the Colorado ! Peter Kerr, a worthy citizen, now 
residing in Burnet County, then a prisoner at the 
ranch of Martin de Leon, hearing of the defeat of Fan- 
nin, escaped from the enemy, and hastened to Hous- 
ton's camp with the intelligence. He urged the com- 
mander-in-chief to attack Sesma forthwith, assuring 
him that Sesma had but about 700 men at that time. 
But on the next day Houston — retreated ! ! He fell 
back about five miles, on the pretence of seeking fresh 
grass. In order to mystify the true cause of his fall- 
ing back, which was the beginning of his retreat, he 
put Kerr in arrest, alleging that he was a spy. The 
veil was too transparent to deceive any but the wil- 
fully blind ; but the pretext of seeking grass had a 
brief tranquillizing effect. 

" From the moment the retreat was plainly begun, 
the indignant army dissolved away like the untimely 
snow of the hill-top before a vertical sun. The citizens 
of western Texas, whose families had been left at 



244 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

home, in tlie liope that the enemy would be met and 
defeated, were compelled, by the first and holiest 
promptings of nature, to abandon their dishonored 
flag draggling in the dust, and provide for the immi- 
nently exposed ones of their own households. 

" On the morning of the 27th the retreat was 
resumed, and on the 28th the army arrived at San 
Felipe on the Brazos ; and the beautiful West was 
given up to the ravages of an enemy as barbarian as 
the hordes of Attila." 

The venerable editor of The Galveston JSTews, be- 
sides this, made other strictures on Gren. Houston's 
errors during this campaign, in retaliation for which 
Gen. Houston said in the U. S. Senate : 

" The author of this Almanac, Wiliard Richard- 
son — r must immortalize him — if reports be true, and 
I have no reason to doubt them, had he been assigned 
to his proper place, would have been dignified by a 
penitentiary residence before this time, owing to the 
peccadilloes with which he was charged. Although they 
have been smothered and done away with, his char- 
acter is not vindicated to the world. He still goes on 
from sin to sin, from abuse to slander. Sir, I have no 
disposition to animadvert more : but could the char- 
acters of these individuals, and the motives which 
prompted them, be known, it would not have been 
necessary for me to occupy the time of the Senate on 



EI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 345 

this occasion, or to give a tlioiiglit to what has trans- 
pired, in relation to the commander-in-chief of the 
army of Texas. I find, however, that bitter, that un- 
dying hostility to him, that will not perish even with 
his life ; and I have no doubt the very creatures that 
are hunting him now would hunt him, if they could, 
beyond the grave." 

Kennedy says: "The army under Houston, which 
mustered about 1,300 men, impatient for action, occu- 
pied a position at Season's Ferry, on the Colorado, 
until the 26th of March. Having learned that there 
was a division of the enemy above and another below 
him, and that large reinforcements had joined them, 
Houston determined, on the 26th, to fall back upon 
the Brazos, apprehensive of being surrounded along 
with an arm}^ that was the main hope of Texas, being 
composed almost exclusively of the settlers themselves. 
Foreseeing that if the enemy should move to his rear, 
he would have to starve on the left bank of the Col- 
orado, leaving the country unprotected, or share the 
fate of Fannin in his attempt to cross the prairies, he 
ordered a retreat to San Felipe, which he reached 
without molestation on the 27th. Leaving a detach- 
ment at San Felipe, and forwarding another to Ford 
Bend (half-way between Columbia and San Felipe), 
he moved with the main body to Groce's Ferry. This 
was the best and easiest crossing-place on the Brazos, 



246 HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

and therefore tlie point most likely to be aimed at by 
tlie Mexicans. By securing tbe steamboat Yellow- 
sto7ie, lying at this point, Houston obtained tlie means 
of transporting his troops to any part of the river 
where the enemy should appear. 

" On the evening of the 29th, some scouts, detached 
by Captain Baker, who commanded at San Felipe, 
made an erroneous report of the appearance of the 
Mexicans within a few miles of the town. The in- 
habitants, after hastily removing a part of their pro- 
perty beyond the Brazos, set fire to the town and 
destroyed with it goods to the amoant of several thou- 
sand dollars, which might have been saved, had not 
the scouts mistaken a drove of cattle for a squadron 
of cavalry. 

" General Santa Anna arrived at Gonzales on the 2d 
of April ; and, the river being swollen, it was neces- 
sary to pass it on a raft. Anxious to advance, he pro- 
ceeded on the 3d, with his staff and picket, to join 
General Sesma, on the Colorado, leaving to Filisola 
the charge of conducting tlie troops across the Guad- 
alupe. On the 5th, he arrived at Paso del Atascosito, 
and on the 6th marched with the divisions of Sesma 
and Tolsa to San Felipe, which he reached on the 7th. 
General WoU was left at Atascosito, with a battalion 
and a picket of cavalry, for the purpose of construct- 
ing a raft to transport the artillery, wagons, and am- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 247 

munition, tliat were coming up with Filisola, across 
the Colorado. 

" The swell of the Brazos, and the opposition of the 
detachment under Captain Baker, prevented Santa 
Anna from crossing the river at San Felipe. On the 
9th of April, he took the choice companies and pro- 
ceeded down the river, to select a suitable crossing- 
place. On the 11th, he arrived at the Old Fort, and 
despatched orders to Sesma and Filisola to join him 
there. He was joined by the former on the 13th, and 
without waiting for additional reinforcments, crossed 
the river and marched to Harrisburg, which he 
reached in the afternoon of the 16th. Almonte's 
Journal contains the following record of the march 
from San Felipe : 

" ' Saturday., ^tk. — At 5 a.m. we left San Felipe with 
the choice companies of Guerreros, Metamoros, Mex- 
ico, and Toluca, and fifty cavalry of the regiment of 
Tampico and Dolores. At half -past twelve o'clock we 
arrived at the farm of Colls, and another a mile 
beyond — in all six and a half leagues. Three Amer- 
icans were seen who took the road to Marion, or Oro- 
zimbo (Old Fort), and leading to Thompson's Ferry. 
We found at the farm a family from La Baca, who 
came by the way of the Brazos. Various articles were 
also found. The husband of the woman was a mulat- 
to, the woman white. We sent Wilson (the mulatto) 



248 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

to reconnoitre at Marion, that is, at the ferry. He 
did not return. It rained some in the night, and the 
wind changed fco the north. 

•' ' Sunday, 10th. — We remained at Coil's farm, 
waiting for onr scout. The farm is on the left bank 
of the river San Bernardo. At a house seven leagues 
from the farm, on the road leading to the Colorado, 
there were 500 fanegas of corn and twenty barrels of 
sugar. In the afternoon the scout returned, and con- 
firmed the accounts we had received of the position of 
the enemy. At a quarter before four o'clock, p.m., 
we took up our march for Marion, or Old Fort, on the 
road from Brazoria. At half-past five o'clock we 
made a short halt at the farm of the Widow Powell, 
or rather at a stream called Guajolota ; from thence 
leaving the road from Brazoria on our right, we took 
the left, following the wagon tracks to Marion. We 
marched until half-past nine at night, and made 
another short halt. Night darli:. At two in the 
morning we commenced the march on foot, from the 
President down to the soldier, leaving the baggage 
and cavalry, for the purpose of siu*piising the enemy, 
who defended the crossing place, before daylight. 
We did not succeed, as we found the distance double 
what we supposed it to be. Day broke upon us at a 
quarter of a league from the ferry and frustrated our 
plan. We then placed the men in ambush. The 



HI8T0ET OF TEXAS. 249 

stream of G-uajolota is seven and a half leagues from 
Marion, road level, with some miry places. 

■-' ' Monday^ 11th. — Still in ambush. A negro passed 
at a short distance and was taken. He conducted us 
to the place he had crossed at, and having obtained a 
canoe we crossed without being perceived, a little be- 
low the principal crossing place. In the meantime 
the cavalry arrived at Marion and took possession of 
the houses. The enemy retired on the other side, and 
kept up a fire for a long time, until the Cazadores 
under command of Bringas crossed at the lower ford, 
and, ascending the river, were about to take them in 
the rear, when they abandoned Marion, and we re- 
mained in possession of the ferry, one canoe, and a 
flat-boat. A courier was despatched to Greneral 
Sesma, with orders that he should come up with the 
whole division. The Cazadores slept on the other 
side of the river. Rain during the night. 

" ' Tuesday .1 12th. — Day clear and fine. Was occu- 
pied in procuring the canoes and going up in the flat- 
boat to Thompson's Ferry. A Mexican and a Prus- 
sian came in. The Mexican is the son of Delgardo. 
In the afternoon the boat was injured. A courier 
came in from Guadalupe and from General Sesma. 
Wrote to TJrrea at Matao-orda. 

" ' Wednesday, l^th. — The boat was repaired. The 

division of General Sesma arrived. Many articles 
11* 



250 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

were found. General Urrea and R Y. Fernandez 
were written to. Despatclies arrived from Urrea and 
Filisola. 

" ' Thursday ., \Mh. — ^We crossed tlie river early, 
witli our beds only and provisions for tlie road. At 
three in the afternoon we started from Thompson's 
Ferry. 

" ' Friday., Ibth. — At Harrisburg. [In pencil.] 
" ^ Saturday^ 16^A.— At Lynchburg.' [In pencil.] " 
But to return to the Texan camp west of Beazos. 
On the 3d of April Gen. Houston wrote to Col. 
Kusk : 

"I arrived at this place the 1st inst., and pitched 
my encampment in a secure position, in hopes that I 
should receive supplies, and more so, that I would be 
enabled to meet the enemy at any time, and under 
any circumstances which propriety might dictate. 
Since my location rains have fallen ; and it is possi- 
ble the water ma}^ invade my encampment, and com- 
pel me to remove, either back to the prairie, or to 
pass over the river to the east side. If I do pass, it 
will only be to make my camp on a healthy site, 
secure from water, and to defend our horses from tlie 
'enemy; for I find that no care whatever will be 
taken of horses, and if they fall into the enemy's 

hands it would add to his facilities. 

I 

"My spies return and report the enemy only 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



251 



about 1,000 strong on the Colorado, without pickets, 
and only a small camp-ground. My opinion is, tliat 
a detachment I sent to reconnoitre the enemy will 
attack him to-night. The detachment was twenty in 
number, under the command of Major Patton, my 
aide-de-camp. They are among the best hearts of the 
army. 

" If I should pass the river, my design will be, should 
I quit a position opposite to this point, to drop down 
opposite Fort Bend, or some point below. The enemy 
would not have it in their power to pass the river for 
at least a month to come ; and we could only cross 
with the aid of a steamboat, which I have pressed, 
and vn.ll retain till I can dispense mth it. 

" If I should pass the river, I will leave my most 
effective cavalry on this side. I sent you, in charge 
of Mr. Este, two prisoners, Peter Kerr, and Beregardo, 
a Mexican. I have nothing pointed against them; 
but suspicion has fallen upon them, and they are to 
be secured. You may rest easy at Harrisburg ; the 
enemy vnll never cross the Brazos, and I hope the 
panic will soon subside. Peo]3le are planting corn on 
the east side of this river. 

" Mr. Zavala has arrived and reported for duty. I 
am glad of it. Pie informed me that I should have 
the pleasure of seeing you ; and indeed it would give 
me pleasure to do so. I have ordered the troops 



252 



mSTOBY OF TEXAS. 



below to occupy some defensible positions below on 
the river, or coast, and check the enemy. Rumors 
from the Mexican interior of wars, or difficulty in 
passing the Colorado, have caused them to delay; 
and at this time it is almost impossible for them to 
pass the prairies, owing to the rains that have fallen 
since we passed — then it was only possible for us to 
pass with our wagons. If they come, their artil- 
lery must come. They must raft it over the Colorado, 
which is very high, as I am informed. It must be out 
of its banks. 

" I have looked for an express from you for several 
days. Eighty Redlanders have arrived, and are on 
the opposite bank. The arrival of others is daily ex- 
pected. 

" I have the honor, etc., 

"Sam HousTOif." 

The last letter of Gen. Houston to Col. Thomas J. 
Eusk, Secretary of War, gives an account of news 
from Goliad, etc., it is as 'follows : 

" Head-quabters, Camp West of Bkazos, Aprils, 1836. 
"Sie: I have the honor to inform you that, by an. 
express which reached me last night, I received intel- 
ligence that Colonel Fannin and his command had 
been attacked by a large body of Mexican cavalry 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 253 

and infantry, in tlie prairie, about eiglit miles east of 
San Antonio River, on his marcli from La Bahia to 
Victoria. The enemy were several times repulsed ; 
the battle lasting until far in the night. On the 
next morning the enemy iired several cannon-shots 
and hoisted a flag of truce, which was met by a cor- 
responding signal from Colonel Fannin. The com- 
manders met, and stipulated that the Americans, on 
condition of a surrender, should be treated as pris- 
oners of war, and in eight days sent to New Orleans 
.on parole. On the eighth day the prisoners were 
marched out under a guard (after having been kept 
in close confinement) , a file of soldiers on each side of 
the prisoners. The guard then doubled files on the 
right of the prisoners, killing all but one, who made 
his escape. The enemy are said to have lost 1,000 

men in the action 

" Will not our friends rush to the conflict, and at 
once avenge the wrongs which have been inflicted on 
our dauntless comrades ? The day of just retribu- 
tion ought not to be deferred. Send expresses to the 
coast and to the United States. The army is just 
organizing, and will soon be prepared. The last ad- 
vices report that the enemy cannot cross the Colo- 
rado — except a part of it — on account of high waters. 
Their delay is said, by others, to be owing to some 
difficulties in the interior, and a want of supplies. 



254 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

" San Felipe was reduced to ashes, but not by my 
order. 

" I liave the honor, etc., 

"Sam Houston." 

"P.S. — It was ref)orted in camp that you were com- 
ing to the army. As it is so reported, you had best 
come if possible. It will inspirit the troops. No ex- 
press has reached me for some five days from Harris- 
burg. The army is in good spirits." 

The Secretary of War, Col. Thos. J. Rusk, arrived 
in camp on the night of the 4th. He was from Geor- 
gia, and had settled in Nacogdoches before the war 
commenced : was a lawyer, of fine personal appear- 
ance, most agreeable manners, and solid sense, made a 
good speech, and told a funny story with splendid 
effect. He subsequently became commander-in-chief 
of the Texan army, and served many years as senator 
from Texas in the U. S. Congress. His arrival in 
camp no doubt did much good, for things looked 
gloomy. The Mexicans had already killed in battle 
or butchered, within less than one month, more Texans 
than now constituted their army under Gen. Houston. 

Another battle might end as disastrous and bloody as 
the first, yet, after resting a few daj^s and recuperating 
their physical abilities, hope revived their drooping 



mSTORT OF TEXAS. 255 

spirits, and on the 7t]i of April their general issued 
the following order: 

" Hkad-quakters of the Armt, 

" Camp West of Brazos, April 7, 1836. 

" Army Orders. — The advance of the enemy is at 
San Felipe. The moment for which we have waited 
with anxiety and interest is fast approaching. The 
victims of the Alamo, and the manes of those who 
were murdered at Goliad, call for cool., deliberate ven- 
geance. Strict discipline, order and subordination will 
insure us the victory. 

"The army will be in readiness for action at a 
moment's warning. The field officers have the imme- 
diate execution of this order in charge for their respect- 
ive commands. 

" Sam Houston, 

Coinmander-in- OhiefT 
"Geo. W. Hockley, Inspector-General." 

The enemy left San Felipe w^ithout giving him 
battle, and on the 12th of April, tlie acting Secretary 
of War wrote to Gen. Houston from Harrisburg : 

" There are a number of families here, and in the 
neighborhood, who came here under the belief that 
they would be safe, who are now exposed to the 
attack of the enemy 

" You have assured the government that the enemy 



256 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

should never cross ttie Brazos: tliey liave relied 
ou your assurance, but they find your pledges not veri- 
fied, and numberless families exposed to the ravages 
of tlie enemy. 

"The country expects something from you; the 
government looks to you for action. 

" The time has now arrived to determine whether 
w^e are to give up the countr^^, and make the best of 
our way out of it, or to meet the enemy and make at 
least one struggle for our boasted independence." 

On the 13th of April Gen. Houston answered the 
Secretary of War, stating : 

" At Gonzales I had 374 efiicient men, without sup- 
plies, even powder, balls, or arms. At the Colorado, 
with 700 men, without discipline or time to organize 
the army. Two days since, my effective force in camp 
was 530 men (aggregate). .... 

" I had reason to expect the attack would be made, 
and an, effort made to cross the river at San Felipe, or 
at the point at which I was, as the prairie, at the lat- 
ter point, approached nearer to the river, and the bot- 
tom was better than at any other point on the river. 
The cannonade was kept up at San Felipe until yester- 
day morning ; and as the river was very high, and it 
was reported to me that the enemy were preparing 
rafts at that point, I had every reason to suppose that 
they intended to cross there, if possible. 



HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 257 

" On tlie previous night, in consultation witli the 
Secretary of War, we concluded to pass the river to 
this side. At ten o'clock, a.m., yesterday, I commenced 
crossing the river, and from that time till the present 
(noon) the steamboat and yawl (having no ferry-boat) 
have been engaged. We have eight or ten wagons, 
ox teams, and about two hundred horses, belonging to 
the army ; and these have to pass on board the steam- 
boat, besides the troops, baggage, etc. This requires 
time ; but I hope in one hour to be enabled to be in 
preparation. I had sent an express evening before 
last to all the troops of Washington and above this 
point to meet me here by a rapid mai^ch. On yester- 
day morning I ordered all the command below to unite 
with the main body, so as to act promptly and effi- 
ciently when most necessary. It was impossible to 
guard all river passes for one hundred miles, and at 
once concentrate the force so as to guard any one point 
ejffiectually, unless where the main body might be 
stationed. An invading army marches with every- 
thing necessary to conquest. I would at once have 
fallen back on Harrisburg, but a wish to allay the 
panic that prevailed, induced me to stop at the Brazos, 
contrary to my views of military o]3erations. I had 
assurances of reinforcements by remaining on the 
Brazos 

" When I assured the department that the enemy 



258 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

should not pass the Brazos, I did not intend to convey 
the idea that either the army or myself possessed 
powers of ubiquity; but that they should not pass 
through my encampment 

'' I beg leave to assure you that I will omit no 
opportunity to serve the country, and to serve it for 
the love of it, without ambition, or ulterior views into 
which selfishness can enter. I have, under the most 
disadvantageous circumstances, kept an army together, 
and where there has not been even murmuring or 
insubordination; but I cannot perform impossibil- 
ities. These remarks are not in anger, nor are 
they intended to be in the least personal to you, 
but arise out of the pressure of difficulties which 
you cannot appreciate, because they are unexplained 
to you." 

Having crossed the Brazos and having received the 
famous twin sisters, two six-pounders, the generous 
donation of the good people of Cincinnati, after con- 
centrating his forces. Gen. Houston resolves to pur- 
sue the enemy and give them battle. 

After a very unpleasant march over very bad roads, 
which required many times the unloading of the 
wagons at boggy places, so that they could cross over 
empty, and then reloading, the Texan army arrived at 
Harrisburg on the 18th, when the notable spy Deaf 
Smith, Karnes, and others were sent out. 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 259 

Smitli * returned witL. two captive Mexicans from 
wliom information was gained of tlie number and 
whereabouts of Santa Anna, and Ms army, wliiclL 
numbered between 700 and 800 men and was sep- 
arated from the divisions of Gaona, Sesma, and 
Filisola. 

Upon receiving this information General Houston 
crossed his army over Buffalo Bayou on the 19th, and 
threw himself in the way of Santa Anna. On the 
same day, Colonel Kusk issued the following address : 
to which General Houston added the subjoined : 

"Wak Department, Head-quarteks op the Akmy, 
" Harrisbtjkg, April 19, 1836, 

" To THE People of Texas — Felloio Oitizens : Let 
me make one more appeal to you to turn out, and 
rally to the standard of your country. The army 

* Deaf Smith was a member of that distinguished family as the following 
story taken from Yoakum -will show: " It is given as related by the gen- 
eral himself. Smith came in, greatly fatigued, and somewhat exasperated. 
He repaired to the general's quarters, and said he wished to have a little 
talk with him. Said he : ' G-eneral, you are very kind to these Mexicans ; 
I like kindness, but you are too kiad — you won't allow me to kill any of 
them ! If a man meets two of the enemy, and is not allowed to kill either, 
by the time he takes one and ties him, the other gets ofE so far that it is 
very fatiguing on a horse to catch him ; and I wish you wonld let me man- 
age things in my own way. ' Houston told him not to be cruel, but that he 
must be his own judge of the necessity of securing such of the enemy as 
might be taken by him. Smith nodded his head — for he was a man of few 
words — and retired. " 



:260 EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

reached liere yesterday late in the day. Our scouts 
arrested three of the Mexicans — one captain, one a 
cor r So [express rider], direct from Mexico, and another, 
a servant. From the prisoners we learn many interesting 
facts. Santa Anna himself is just below us, and within 
the sound of the drum — has, we understand, only 
500 men. We are parading our forces for the 
purpose of marching upon him. He has a reinforce- 
ment of about 1,000 men upon the Brazos, about 
forty miles from here. A few hours more will 
decide the fate of our army : and what an astonishing 
fact it is, that, at the very moment when the fate of 
your wives, your children, your homes, your country, 
and all that is dear to a freeman, are suspended upon 
the issue of one battle, not one-fourth of the people 
[men] of Texas are in the army ! Are you Amer- 
icans ? are you freemen ? If you are, prove your blood 
and birth by rallying at once to your country's stand- 
ard ! Your general is at the head of a brave and 
chivalrous band, and throws himself, sword in hand, 
into the breach, to save his country, and vindicate her 
rights. Enthusiasm prevails in the army ; but I look 
around and see that many, very many, whom I antici- 
pated would be first in the field, are not here. 

" Rise up at once, concentrate, and march to the 
field !-a vigorous effort, and the country is safe ! 
A different course disgraces and ruins you ; and what 



HIS TOBY OF TEXA8. 261 

is life wortli with tlie loss of liberty ? May I never 
survive it ! 

" Your fellow-citizen, 

"Thomas J. Rusk, 

" Secretary of WarP 

''April 19, 1836. 

" We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are 
nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish. 
It is vain to look for present aid : none is at hand. 
We must now act or abandon all hope ! Rally to the 
standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary 
tongues ! Be men, be freemen, that your children 
may bless their fathers' names ! 

" Colonel Rusk is with me, and I am rejoiced at it. 
The country will be the gainer, and myself the bene- 
ficiary. Liberty and our country ! 
"Sam HoiJSToisr, 

" Cornrifiander-in-Cliief^'' 

On the 20th, the Texan army, marching down the 
bayou, met the Mexican army marching up, opposite 
Lynch's Ferry, just below the junction of the Ban 
Jacinto River with Buffalo Bayou, when, after slight 
skirmishing with little loss on either side, both armies 
encamped on the plains about three-fourths of a mile 
apart and reposed for the night. 

The long wished for moment is at hand ! There is 



262 HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

tlie army of Santa Anna, tlie captor of tlie Alamo ! 
There stand tliose Mexicans wlio stormed tlie Ther- 
mopylae of Texas, and put to death Travis, Bowie, 
Crockett, Bonham, and their immortal comrades ! 

There stand the murderers of the brave but un- 
fortunate E,ed E,overs, the Duval Rifles, and the 
Georgia Battalion, who left all the comforts of home, 
the sweet society of dear friends, and from the lap of 
luxury and security leaped into the foremost ranks of 
a people struggling for liberty ! 

Why do the Texans hesitate ? Why not sound the 
charge, and avenge the sacrifice of their dear com- 
rades ? 

Providence orders the murderers' sleej), and their 
last night to be like Eichard's, who said, in the lan- 
guage of the poet : 

" Oh, I have passed a miserable night, 
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, 
That, as I am a Christian, faithful man, 
I would not spend another such a night. 
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days." 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Battle of San Jacinto — The Mexican Army entirely defeated. — Santa 
Anna captured. — J. A. Sylvester, Milt Swisher, and Santa Anna. — The 
Armistice. — Texas Cabinet come to San Jacinto. — Division of the Cab- 
inet as to treating with Santa Anna. — Lamar's letter to the Cabinet. — 
The Treaties of Velasco. 

nnHE 21st of April, 1836, was a clear and beautiful 
■-■- day. Neither the sun of Bannockburn nor Aus- 
terlitz shone more lovely or more brilliantly. 

The Texans seemed loath to commence the battle, 
while the Mexicans, although they received some rein- 
forcements under Greneral Cos, amounting to 520 men, 
appeared to be fearful and apprehensive of the coming 
strife, for they threw up breastworks and fortified 
their camp. 

The evening sun was declining, when, after a coun- 
cil of war at three o'clock in the afternoon, the joyful 
order was given : Prepare for battle ! 

All were eager for the fray, and to the tune of 
" Will you come to my hoiver ? " they charged forth to 
victory and renown. But as the reports of Grens. 
Houston and Rusk are very interesting, they are here 
inserted : 



2(54 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

"■ Head-quarters op the Army, San Jacinto, 
''April 25th, 1836. 
" To David G. Burnet, President of the Republic of Texas. 

" Sir : I regret extremely tliat my situation, since 
tlie battle of the 21st, has been such as to prevent 
my rendering you my official report of the same pre- 
vious to this time. 

" I have the honor to inform you that, on the even- 
ing of the 18th inst., after a forced march of fifty- jS.ve 
miles, which was effected in two days and a half, the 
army arrived opposite Harrisburg. That evening a 
courier of the enemy was taken, from which I learned 
that General Santa Anna, with one division of his 
choice troops, had marched in the direction of Lynch's 
Ferry, on the San Jacinto, burning Harrisburg as he 
passed down. 

" The army was ordered to be in readiness to march 
early on the next morning. The main body effected 
a crossing over Buffalo Bayou, below Harrisburg, on 
the morning of the 19th, having left the baggage, the 
sick, and a sufficient camp -guard, in the rear. We 
continued to march throughout the night, making but 
one halt in the prairie for a short time, and without 
refreshments. At daylight we resumed the. line of 
march, and in a short distance our scouts encountered 
those of the enemy, and we received information that 
General Santa Anna was at New Washington, and 



HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 265 

would til at day take up the line of marcli for Aua- 
huac, crossing at Lyncli's Ferry. The Texan army 
halted within half a mile of the ferry, in some timber, 
and were engaged in slaughtering beeves when the 
army of Santa Anna was discovered to be approach- 
ing in battle array, having been encamped at Clopper's 
Point, eight miles below. Disposition was immedi- 
ately made of our forces, and preparation for his re- 
ception. He took a position with his .infantry and 
artillery in the centre, occupying an island of timber, 
his cavalry covering the left flank. The artillery, 
consisting of one double-f ortiiied medium brass twelve- 
pounder, then opened on our encampment. The in- 
fantry, in column, advanced with the design of charg- 
ing our lines, but were repulsed by a discharge of 
grape and canister from our artillery, consisting of 
two six-pounders. The enemy had occupied a piece 
of timber within rifle-shot of the left wing of our 
army, from which an occasional interchange of small- 
arms took place between the troops, until the enemy 
withdrew to a position on the bank of the San Jacinto, 
about three-quarters of a mile from our encampment, 
and commenced fortification. 

"A short time before sunset, our mounted men, 
about eighty-five in number, under the special com- 
mand of Colonel Sherman, marched out for the pur- 
pose of reconnoitring the enemy. While, advancing, 
12 



266 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

tliey received a volley from tlie left of the enemy's 
infantry, and, after a sharp rencounter with their cav- 
alry, in which ours acted extremely well, and per- 
formed some feats of daring chivalry, they retired in 
good order, having had two men severely wounded, and 
several horses killed. In the meantime, the infantry 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Millard, 
and Colonel Burleson's regiment, with the artillery, 
had marched out for the purpose of covering the re- 
treat of the cavalry, if necessary. All then fell back 
in good order to our encampment about sunset, and 
remained without ostensible action until the 21st, at 
half-past three .o'clock, taking the first refreshment 
which they had enjoyed for two days. The enemy 
in the meantime extended the right flank of their 
infantry, so as to occupy the extreme point of a 
skirt of timber on the bank of the San Jacinto, and 
secured their left by a fortification about five feet 
high, constructed of packs and baggage, leaving an 
opening in the centre of the breastwork, in which 
their artillery was placed, their cavalry upon their 
left wing. 

"About nine o'clock on the morning of the 21st, the 
enemy were reinforced hj 500 choice troops, under 
the command of General Cos, increasing their effective 
force to upward of 1,500 men, while our aggregate 
force for the field numbered 783. At half-past three 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 267 

o'clock in the evening, I ordered tlie officers of the 
Texan army to parade tlieir respective commands, 
having in the meantime ordered the bridge on the 
only road commnnicating with the Brazos, distant 
eight miles from our encampment, to be destroyed — - 
thus cutting off all possibility of escape. Our troops 
paraded with alacrity and spirit, and were anxious 
for the contest. Their conscious disparity in numbers 
seemed only to increase their enthusiasm and confi- 
dence, and heightened their anxiety for the conflict. 
Our situation afforded me an opportunity of making 
the arrangements preparatory to the attack without 
exposing our designs to the enemy. The first regiment, 
commanded by Colonel Burleson, was assigned to the 
centre. The second regiment, under the command of 
Colonel Sherman, formed the left wing of the army. 
The artillery, under the special command of Colonel 
George W. Hockley, inspector-general, was placed on 
the right of the first regiment ; and four companies of 
infantry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Henry Millard, sustained the artillery upon the right. 
Our cavalry, sixty-one in number, commanded by 
Colonel Mirabeau B. Lamar (whose gallant and dar- 
ing conduct on the previous day had attracted the 
admiration of his comrades, and called him to that 
station), placed on our extreme right, completed our 
line. Our cavalry was \ first despatched to the front 



268 EISTOET OF TEXAS. 

of the enemy's left, for the purposes of attracting 
tlieir notice, while an extensive island of timber 
afforded us an opportunity of concentrating oar 
forces, and deploying from that point, agreeably to 
the previous design of the troops. Every evolution 
was performed with alacrity, the whole advancing 
rapidly in line, through an open prairie, without any 
protection whatever for our men. The artillery ad- 
vanced and took station within two hundred yards of 
the enemy's breastwork, and commenced an effective 
fire with grape and canister. 

" Colonel Sherman, with his regiment, having com- 
menced the action upon our left wing, the whole line, 
at the centre and on the right, advancing in double- 
quick time, raised the war-cry, " Hemernher tlie 
Alamo ! " received the enemy's fire, and advanced 
within point-blank shot, before a piece was discharged 
from our lines. Our line advanced without a halt, 
until they were in possession of the woodland and 
the enemy's breastwork — the right wing of Burleson's 
and the left of Millard's taking possession of the 
breastwork; our artillery having gallantly charged 
up within seventy yards of the enemy's cannon, when 
it was taken by our troops. 

" The conilict lasted about eighteen minutes from the 
time of close action until we were in possession of the 
enemy's encampment, taking one piece of cannon 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 269 

(loaded), four stand of colors, all their camp-eqiiipage, 
stores, and baggage. Our cavalry liad charged and 
routed tliat of the enemy upon the right, and given 
pursuit to the fugitives, which did not cease until 
they arrived at the bridge which I have mentioned 
before — Captain Karnes, always among the foremost 
in danger, commanding the pursuers. The conflict in 
the breastwork lasted but a few moments ; many of 
the ti'oops encountered hand to hand, and, not having 
the advantage of bayonets on our side, our riflemen 
used their pieces as war-clubs, breaking many of them 
o:ff at the breech. The rout commenced at half -past 
four, and the pursuit by the main army continued 
until twilight. A guard was then left in charge of 
the enemy's encampment, and our army returned with 
their killed and wounded. In the battle, our loss was 
two killed and twenty-three wounded, six of them 
mortally. The enemy's loss was six hundred and 
thirty killed, among whom was one general officer, 
four colonels, two lieutenant-colonels, five captains, 
twelve lieutenants ; wounded two hundred and eight, 
of which were five colonels, three lieutenant-colonels, 
two second lieutenant-colonels, seven captains, one 
cadet; prisoners seven hundred and thirty — Presi- 
dent-General Santa Anna, General Cos, four colonels, 
aides to General Santa Anna, and the colonel of the 
Guerrero battalion, are included in the number. 



270 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

General Santa Anna was not taken until tlie 2 2d, 
and General Cos yesterday, very few having escaped. 
About six hundred muskets, three hundred sabres, 
and two hundred j)istols, have been collected since 
the action. Several hundred mules and horses were 
taken, and nearly twelve thousand dollars in specie. 

" For several days previous to the action, our troops 
Avere engaged in forced marches, exposed to excessive 
rains, and the additional inconvenience of extremely 
bad roads, badly supplied with rations and clothing ; 
yet, amid every difficulty, they bore up with cheerful- 
ness and fortitude, and performed their marches with 
spirit and alacrity — there was no murmuring. 

u Previous to and during the action, my staff evinced 
every disposition to be useful, and were actively en- 
gaged in their duties. In the conflict I am assured 
that they demeaned themselves in such a manner as 
proved them worthy members of the army of San 
Jacinto. Colonel T. J. Kusk, Secretary of War, was 
on the field. For weeks his services had been highly 
beneficial to the army. In the battle, he was on the 
left wing, where Colonel Sherman's command first 
encountered and drove in the enemy : he bore himself 
gallantly, and continued his efforts and activity, re- 
maining with the pursuers until resistance ceased. 

" I have the honor of transmitting herewith a list of 
all the ofiicers and men who were engaged in the 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 271 

action, wMcL. I respectfully request may be published, 
as an act of justice to the individuals. For the com- 
manding general to attempt discrimination as to the 
conduct of those who commanded in the action, or 
those who were commanded, would be impossible. 
Our success in the action is conclusive proof of their 
daring intrepidity and courage ; every officer and man 
proved himself worthy of the cause in which he 
battled, while the triumph received a lustre from the 
humanity which characterized their conduct after 
victory, and richly entitles them to the admiration 
and gratitude of their general. Nor should we with- 
hold the tribute of our grateful thanks from that 
Being Avho rules the destinies of nations, and has, in 
the time of greatest need, enabled us to arrest a 
powerful invader while devastating our country. 
" I have the honor, etc., 
"Sam Houston, 

" Commander-in-Chief.''^ 

Rejport of Thomas J. Rusk, Secretary of War. 

"War Department, Headquarters, Army op Texas, 
" San Jacinto River, A'pril 22, 1836. 
" To His Excellency David G. Burnet, President of Texas. 

" Sir : 1 have the honor to communicate to your ex- 
cellency a brief account of a general engagement with 
the army of Santa Anna, at this place on the 2 1st 
instant. 



272 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

" Our army, under tlie command of General Houston, 
arrived here on the 20tli instant. The enemy, a few 
miles off at New Washington, apprised of our arrival, 
committed some depredations upon private property, 
and commenced their line of march to this point. 
They were unconscious of our approach until our 
standard was planted on the banks of the San Jacinto. 
Our position was a favorable one for battle. On the 
noon of the 20th, the appearance of our foe was hailed 
by our soldiers with enthusiasm. The enemy marched 
in good order, took a position in front of our encamp- 
ment, on an eminence, vnthin cannon-shot, where they 
planted their only piece of artillery, a brass nine- 
pounder ; and then arrayed their cavalry and infantry 
a short distance on the right, under the shelter of a 
skirt of woods. In a short time, they commenced 
firing upon us ; their cannon in front, their infantry on 
our left, and their cavalry changing their position on 
the right. A charge was made on the left of our 
camp by their infantry, which was promptly repelled 
by a few shots from our artillery, which forced them 
to retire. I have the satisfaction of stating that only 
two of our men were wounded, one very slightly, the 
other (Colonel iJ^eill, of the artillery) not fatally. 

"The attack ceased ; the enemy retired and formed 
in two skirts of timber, and remained in that position, 
occasionally opening their cannon upon us, until just 



His TOBY OF TEXAS. 273 

before sunset, wlieu they attempted to draw off their 
forces. Their artillery and cavalry Y\^ere removed to 
ottier points. Colonel Sherman, with sixty of our cav- 
;3lr}', charged upon theirs, consisting of upward of 100,' 
killing and wounding several. Their infantry came to 
the assistance of their cavalry, and opened upon us an 
incessant fire for ten or fifteen minutes, \vhich our men 
sustained with surprising firmness. Too much praise 
cannot be bestowed upon those who were engaged in 
this charge, for never was one of equal peril made 
with more courao;e, and terminated with less loss. 
Two of our men were severely wounded, ])ut none 
killed. This terminated the movements of the day. 

"Early next morning, about nine o'clock, the enemy 
received a reinforcement of 500 men, under the com- 
mand of General Martin Prefecto de Cos, which 
increased their strength to 1,400 or 1,500 men. 
It was supposed that an attack upon our encamp- 
ment would now be made ; and having a good 
position, we stationed our artillery, and disposed of 
the forces, so as to receive the enemy to the best advan- 
tage. At three o'clock, however, the foe, instead of 
showing signs of attack, was evidently engaged in for- 
tif3^ing. We determined, therefore, immediately to 
assail him ; and in half an hour we were formed in 
four divisions : the first, intended as our right wing, 

composed of the regulars under Colonel Millard, and 
12* 



274 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the second division, under command of Colonel 
Sydney Sherman, formed our left wing. A division, 
commanded by Colonel Burleson, formed our centre. 
Our two six-pounders, under the command of Colonel 
Hockley, Captains Isaac N. Moreland and Stillwell, 
were drawn up on the right of the centre division. 
The cavalry, under command of Colonel Mirabeau B. 
Lamar, formed upon the right. At the command to 
move forward, all the divisions advanced in good order 
and high spirits. On arriving within reach of the 
enemy, a heavy fire was opened, first with their artil- 
lery on our cavalry. A general conflict now ensued. 
Orders were given to charge. Colonel Sherman's divis- 
ion moved up, and drove the enemy from the woods 
occupied by them on their right wing. At the same 
moment. Colonel Burleson's division, together with 
the regulars, charged upon and mounted the breast- 
woi'k of the enemy, and drove them from their cannon ; 
our artillery, the meanwhile, charging up and firing 
upon them with great effect. The cavalry, under 
Colonel Lamar, at the same time fell on them with 
great fury and great slaughter. Major-General Hous- 
ton acted with great gallantry, encouraging his men to 
the attack, and heroically charged, in front of the in- 
fantry, within a few yards of the enemy, receiving at 
the same time a wound in his leg. The enemy soon 
took to flight, ofiicers and all, some on foot and some 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 275 

on horseback. In ten minutes after the firing of the 
first gun, we were charging through the camp, and 
driving them before us. They fied in confusion and 
dismay down the river, followed closely by our troops 
for four miles. Some of them took the prairie, and 
were pursued by our cavalry; others were shot in 
attempting to swim the river ; and in a short period 
the sanguinary conflict was terminated by the sur- 
i-ender of nearly all who were not slain in the combat. 
One-half of their army perished ; the other half are 
prisoners, among whom are General Santa Anna him- 
self, Colonel Almonte, and many other prominent 
ofiScers of their army. The loss of the enemy is com- 
puted at' over six hundred sla,in, and above six hun- 
dred prisoners ; togetlier with a calallada of several 
hundred mules taken, with much valuable baggage. 
Our loss, in point of numbers, is small, it being seven 
slain and fifteen , wounded. 

"This glorious achievement is attributed, not to 
su2:)erior force, but to the valor of our soldiers and the 
sanctity of our cause. Our army consisted of 750 
effective men. This brave band achieved a victory as 
glorious as any on the records of history, and the 
happy consequences will be felt in Texas by succeed- 
ing generations. It has saved the country from the yoke 
of bondage ; and all who mingled in it are entitled to 
the special munificence of government, and the heart- 



276 HISTORY 01 TEXAS. 

felt gratitude of every lover of liberty. Tlie sun was 
sinking in tlie horizon as tlie battle commenced, but, 
at the close of the conflict, the sun of liberty and in- 
dependence rose in Texas, never, it is to be hoped, to 
be obscured by the clouds of despotism. We have 
read of deeds of chivalry, and perused with ardor the 
annals of war; we have contemplated, with the high- 
est > emotions of sublimity, the loud-roaring thunder, 
the desolating tornado, and the withering simoom of 
the desert ; but neither of these, nor all, inspired us 
with emotions like those felt on this occasion ! The 
officers and men seemed to be actuated by a like en 
thusiasm. There was a general cry which pervaded 
the ranks — ^'-Remember the Alamo ! remember La Ba- 
Ilia ! " These words electrified all " Onward ! " was 
the cry. The unerring aim and irresistible enei'gy of 
the Texan army could not be withstood. It was free- 
men fighting against the minions of tyranny, and the 
result proved the inequality of such a contest. 

" In a battle where every individual performed his 
duty, it might seem invidious to draw distinctions ; 
but, while I do justice to all in expressing my high 
admiration of the bravery and gallant conduct of both 
officers and men, I hope I may be indulged in the ex- 
pression of my highest approbation of the chivalrous 
conduct of Major James Collingsworth in almost 
every part of the engagement. Col. James Hockley, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 277 

with his command of artillery, Col. Wharton, the adju- 
tant-general, Major Cook, and, in fact, all the stailP- 
officers, Col. Burleson and Col. Somervell on the right, 
Col. Millard in the centre, and CoL Sherman, CoL 
Bennett, and Major Wells on the left, and Col. Lamar 
on the extreme right with the cavalry — led on the 
charge and followed in the pursuit with dauntless 
bravery. All have my highest approbation. With 
such men, sustained as we shall be by the patriots and 
lovers of liberty in our mother-country, hateful Des- 
potism cannot find a resting-place for the sole of her 
foot on the beautiful j)lains of Texas ! A volume 
would not contain the deeds of individual daring and 
bravery. Each captain has been required to make 
report, and I hope justice will be done to all the brave 
spirits who mingled in the glorious achievement of 
yesterday."^ My aide-de-camp. Dr. Motley, of Ken- 
tucky, fell n'ear me, mortally wounded, and soon after 

* Not%vithstaiiding the fulness and many details giyen in these reports, 
neither contains the slightest allusion to Bob L , who always looms fore- 
most in my mind's eye when contemplating or reflecting upon the incidents 
of the battle of San Jacinto. 

Bob L was a large, fine looking young volunteer from Georgia, who did 

not hear tlie cn^der given to his company or regiment before the charge, to fall 
flat down on the ground, when they should see the flash of the enemy's can- 
non, and after the deadly missiles had passed harmlessly over their heads, to 
rise and continue the charge. 

So when the charge was made and at the flash of the enemy's cannon, all 
bis comrades fell down flat on the ground, Bob supposed they were all killed, 



278 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

his spirit took its flight to join the immortal Milam 
and others in a better world. 

'' I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours, 
"Thomas J. Rusk, 

" Secretary of War. 

" P. S. — Since writing the above, Gen. Cos has been 
brought in a prisoner by our cavalry. 

"T. J. EusK." 

James A. Sylvester has the honor of capturing 
Santa Anna, but did not know his distinguished cap- 
tive until he arrived in camp and was passing by the 
other prisoners (Col. John Milton Swisher, of Austin, 
familiarly known as Milt. Swisher^ being on guard at 
the time), when they recognized him and exclaimed: 
" El Presidente ! el President e ! " 

When taken, he said he was a private and then an 
aid to Santa Anna. He shed tears and kissed the 
hand of his captor, no doubt fearing that the mercy 
which he had shown to others would be meted out to 
him. 

When brought to Gen. Houston, who was confined 

and quickly concluding not to wait for another discliarge, he broke like a 
quarter horse to the rear. 

Poor Bob never conld explain the matter to Gen. Houston's satisfaction, 
who sent for him after the battle, and advised him to marry into a brave 
family and cross the breed. 





^::^">c< 



cz^ 




EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 279 

by Ms wound, he first acknowledged wlio lie was. " I 
am Gen. Antonio Lo23ez de Santa Anna, and place 
myself at your disposition as a prisoner of war ! " 

Gen. Houston seated him on a tool chest, when 
Rusk, Almonte, and others joined them. 

At his request, Santa Anna was given some opium, 
which he swallowed, after which he expressed a desire 
for j^eace between Texas and Mexico. 

Gen. Houston granted an armistice, but declined to 
enter into negotiations for permanent peace, since, 
Texas having a government, he had no right to make 
peace. After some conversation about his treatment 
of Texaus at the Alamo and Goliad, which Santa 
Anna tried to justify, the former by the rules of war, 
that, " when a fortress, insufficient to defend itself, was 
summoned to surrender, and refused, and caused the 
effusion of human blood, the vanquished, when it was 
taken, were devoted to execution," the latter, by the 
decrees of the Mexican Government making them 
pirates. Gen. Houston obtained from him the fol- 
lowing; order to his second in command : 

"Akmy of Operations. 

" Excellent Sie : Having yesterday evening, with 
the small division under my immediate command, had 
an encounter with the enemy, which notwithstanding 
1 had previously taken all possible precautions, proved 



280 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

tmfortunate, I am, in consequence, a prisoner in the 
hands of the enemy. Under these circumstances, 
your excellency will order General G-aona with his 
division to. countermarch to Bexar, and wait for 
orders. Your excellency will also, with the division 
under your immediate command, march to the same 
place. The division under command of General Urrea 
will retire to Guadalupe Victoria. I have agreed 
with General Houston for an armistice, until matters 
can be so regulated that the war will cease forever. 

" Your excellency will take the proper steps for the 
support of the army, which from this time remains 
under your command, using the moneys lately arrived 
from Metamoras, the provisions on hand there, as well 
as those at Victoria, and also the twenty thousand 
dollars withdrawn from Bexar, and which are now in 
that treasury. 

"I hope your excellency will, without failure, 
comply with these dispositions — advising me, by re- 
turn of the courier, that you have already com- 
menced their execution. God and liberty ! 

" Camp at San Jacinto, A^ml 2d, 1839. 

" Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. 

*' To HIS Excellency Don Vicente Filisola, 
" General of Division.'''' 

After receivino; this document, General Houston 
caused Santa Anna's tent to be placed near him, gave 



HI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 281 

Lim Ms baggage, sent Mm his servants, staff officers, 
and treated him generally as kindly as a prisoner could 
be treated. 

To the victors helong tTie spoils : so, after the com- 
missary-general had sold all the captured property, 
which did not amount to $20,000, he distributed their 
shares to men and officers, who voted $3,000 to the 
JSFavy. 

The President and his Cabinet at the approach of 
the enemy at Harrisburg left that place and reas- 
sembled at Galveston, from whence the following 
order was issued : 

" Depaktment op War, Galveston, April 26, 1836. 

" To GETq"EEAL Sam Houston : If you consider it 
inexpedient to risk an engagement with the enemy, 
and consider a retreat inevitable from the position you 
now occupy, you are hereby ordered to march with 
the army under your command to the nearest and 
most convenient point to this island, giving informa- 
tion of the same to this department, when transports 
will be sent forthwith to cross the troops to this 
island. 

"Waeeei^ D. C. Hall, 

''^Acting Becretary of WarP 

Soon after this the government learned of the 
change of things and the Cabinet came to San Jacinto, 



282 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

and entered into ne2:otiations with their illustrious 
prisoner for a treaty of peace. 

Upon this question the Cabinet divided. The Pres- 
ident, D. G-. Burnet — who, says Kennedy, " was a man 
of unblemished reputation, courteous manners, and 
intellectual attainments, the son of a physician in 

Newark, New Jersey, who, in the affairs of 

Texas, had always been distinguished by calmness and 
moderation, and had not unfrequently been exposed 
to censure for declining to keep pace with popular im- 
patience. Whose prudence and forbearance, united 
with firmness and perseverance, well qualified him to 
fill the difficult post to which he had been called by 
the Convention," — also Zavala, the Vice-President, the 
Secretary of State, James Collingsworth, the successor 
of S. P. Carson, and Peter W. Grayson, who succeeded 
David Thomas as Attorney-General, were in favor 
of making a treaty ; while Mirabeau B. Lamar, who 
succeeded General Rusk as Secretary of War, 
who succeeded General Houston, disabled, as com- 
mander-in-chief, and Mohert Potter^ the Secretary 
of the Navy, were opposed to treating with Santa 
Anna at all, but were in favor of trying and punish- 
ing him. 

In a letter to the Cabinet, Secretary Lamar elo- 
quently said that "A^ rather considered him as an 
apprehended murderer than as a jyrisoiier of war. 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 283 

"The conduct of General Santa Anna will not 
permit me to view him in any other light. A chief- 
tain battling for what he conceives to be the rights 
of his country, however mistaken in his views, may 
be privileged to make hot and vigorous war upon the 
foe; but when, in violation of all the principles of 
civilized conflict, he avows and acts upon the revolt- 
ing policy of extermination and rapine, slaying the 
surrendered, and plundering whom he slays, he for- 
feits the commiseration of mankind, by sinking the 
character of the hero into that of an abhorred mur- 
derer. The President of Mexico has pursued such a 
war upon the citizens of this republic. He has 
caused to be published to the world a decree, denoun- 
cing as pirates beyond the reach of his clemency all 
who shall be found rallying around the standard 
of our independence. In accordance with this decree, 
he has turned over to the sword the bravest and best 
of our friends and fellow-citizens after they had 
grounded their arms, under the most solemn pledge 
that their lives should be spared. He has fired our 
dwellings, laid waste our luxuriant fields, excited ser- 
vile and insurrectionary war, violated plighted faith, 
and inhumanly ordered the cold-blooded butchery of 
prisoners who had been betrayed into capitulation 
by heartless professions. I humbly conceive that the 
proclamation of such principles, and the perpetration 



284 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

of sucli crimes, place the offender out of tlie pale of 
negotiation, and demand at our liands other treatment 
than what is due to a mere prisoner of war. Instinct 
condemns him as a murderer, and reason justifies the 
verdict. Nor should the ends of justice be averted 
because of the exalted station of the criminal, or be 
made to give way to the suggestions of interest, or 
any cold considerations of policy. He who sacrifices 
human life at the shrine of ambition is a murderer, 
and deserves the jDunishment and infamy of one ; the 
higher the offender, the greater reason for its inflic- 
tion. I am, therefore, of opinion that our prisoner, 
General Santa Anna, has forfeited his life by the 
highest of all crimes, and is not a suitable object for 
the exercise of our pardoning prerogative. 

" I still feel that strict justice requires this course ; 
that it is sustained by reason, and will receive the 
sanction of the present generation, as well as the 
approving voice of posterity. If the Cabinet could 
concur with me in this view of the subject, and 
march boldly up to what I conceive to be the line of 
right, it would form a bright page in the history 
of this infant nation. It would read well in the 
future annals of the present period, that the first act 
of this young republic was to teach the Caligula 
of the age that, in the administration of public jus- 
tice, the vengeance of the law falls alike impartially 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 235 

on tlie prince and tlie peasant. It is time sucli a 
lesson should be taught the despots of the earth: 
they have too long enjoyed an exemption from the 
common punishment of crime. Throned in power, 
they banquet on the life of man, and then purchase 
security by the dispensation of favors. We have it 
in our pov^er now to give an impulse to a salutary 
change in this order of things. We are sitting in 
judgment upon the life of a stupendous villain, who, 
like all others of his race, hopes to escape the blow 
of merited vengeance by the strong appeals which 
his exalted station enables him to make to the weak 
or selfish principles of nature. Shall he be permitted 
to realize his hopes or not ? Shall our resentment be 
propitiated by promises, or shall we move sternly on- 
ward, regardless of favor or a:ffection, to the inflic- 
tion of a righteous punishment ? My voice is ''Fiat 
justitia mat coelum.'' " 

" Let the same punishment be awarded him which 
we would feel bound in honor and conscience to 
inflict on a subaltern charged and convicted of a like 
offence: this is all that justice can require. If he 
have committed no act which would bring condemna- 
tion on a private individual, then let him be protected ; 
but if he have perpetrated crimes w^hich a man 
in humble life would have to expiate upon the scaf- 
fold, then why shield him from the just operations of 



286 - EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

a law to wliicli anotlier is held amenable ? The 
exalted criminal finds security in negotiation, whilst 
the subaltern offender is given over to the sword of 
the executioner. Surely no considerations of interest 
or policy can atone for such a violation of principle. 
View the matter in every possible light, and Santa 
Anna is still a murderer. 

'' It will be useless to talk to a soldier of San 
Jacinto about national independence and national 
domain, so long as the bones of his murdered breth- 
ren lie bleaching on the prairies unrevenged. Treble 
the blessings proposed to be gained by this ne- 
gotiation will be considered as poor and valueless, 
when weighed against that proud and high resent- 
ment which the soldier feels for wrongs received. 
In the day of battle the animating cry was * Alamo ! ' 
And why ? Because it was known that the slaugh- 
terer of the Alamo was then in the field : it was 
him that was sought. It was not against the poor 
and degraded instruments of his tyranny that we 
warred; they fell, it is true, before our avenging 
strokes like grass before the reaper's sickle. 

" The great difiiculty in dealing with our prisoner 
as his crimes deserve arises, as I have already intima- 
ted, from the fact that education will not peimit 
us to strip him of his ill-gotten honors, and view 
him in the attitude of a private individual. We are 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 287 

taught, by wliat we see around us in early childliood, 
to reverence wealth and power, and it is almost 
impossible in after-life to emancipate the mind from 
the slavish thraldom ; so that when v^e approach the 
guilty lords of creation, there is an involuntary 
shrinking back, as if we deemed them privileged 
in enormity, and not amenable to us for their out- 
rages. We feel that we should not deal with them 
as we would with ordinary men. If a peasant, con- 
victed of murder, shall offer a bribe for the preserva- 
tion of his life, it meets with prompt and indig- 
nant repulsion ; but if a prince, under like circum- 
stances, shall, in the fulness of his power, propose 
some lordly favor, it is accepted with avidity, as if 
it were upon our part a virtuous performance of 
duty. Besides this, we flatter ourselves that there is 
nothing wrong in the transaction, because we are 
not personally and privately the beneficiaries of the 
bargain; but certainly the right or Avrong doth not 
depend upon who are the recipients, whether the 
public or an individual. If we have a right thus 
to act for the good of the nation, we can do the same 
for the good of a community; and if for a com- 
munity, we can for a family; and if for a family, 
why may not that family be our own ? This mode 
of reasoning will readily exhibit the fallacy, if not 
the immorality, of that doctrine which di^aws a . dis- 



288 HISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

tinction between a higli and a low oJBcender, and jus- 
tifies a negotiation with the one which would be 
odious and criminal with the other. 

" Never did the broad eye of day look upon a 
fouler murder ; never were a better or a braver people 
sacrificed to a tyrant's ferocity. The most of them 
were youthful heroes. 

" I have always thought, and still believe, that our 
sole reliance should be upon our swords, and not 
upon the faith of Santa Anna. If the armies now on 
the retreat shall dare a countermarch, there will not 
be in the next battle a Mexican left to tell the tale 
of their defeat ; and if another expedition against us 
shall be gotten up in the fall or the spring, there 
will come into our country such a cavalcade of heroes 
as will make their chivalry skip. The very first 
army that turns its face to the East will awaken a war 
which will move onward and onward over the broad 
prairies of the West, knowing no termination until it 
reaches the walls of Mexico, where we shall plant the 
standard of the Single Star, and send forth our 
decrees in the voice of our artillery. 

" That my feelings and opinions may not be misap- 
prehended, I beg leave, by way of recapitulation, to 
state, that, toward the common soldiers among our 
Mexican prisoners I cherish no malice or resentment 
looking upon the most of them in the light of unwill- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



289 



ing instruments in the liands of tyranny ; neither can 
I perceive in the conduct of the officers any particu- 
lar act which might not be considered as legitimate 
in a soldier devoted to his profession, or in a patriot 
enlisted in the cause of his country. These, after 
an exchange of prisoners, I would retain in the cus- 
tody of the Grovernment until the conclusion of the 
war; but, viewing General Santa Anna altogether 
in a different attitude, I would adopt the coui'se in 
reference to him which I have already urged. His 
crimes being sanguinary, I would read his punish- 
ment from the Code of Draco." 

But notwithstanding this eloquent appeal a ma- 
jority of the Cabinet, imbued with the merciful senti- 
ment of Him who commanded sinful mortals to do 
good for evil, to pray for their enemies — and while 
expiring upon the cross appealingly said in behalf of 
his murderers : '■'' J^ather, forgive them j tliey hnoiv not 
what they doj'' — voted for peace, and made the fol- 
lowing treaties with the Mexican president : 



290 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

TREATY OF YELASCO, MAY 14, 1886. 

PUBLIC AGREEMENT. 

Articles of Agreement ent&red into 'between His Excellency Daytd G. Bttr- 
NET, President of the Republic of Texas, of the one part, and His Ex- 
cellency General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President- General-in- 
Chief of the Mexican Army, of the other pa/rt : — 

Article 1. General Antonio Lopez de Santa 
Anna agrees that lie will not take up arms, nor will 
he exercise Ms influence to cause them to be taken 
up, against the people of Texas, during the present 
war of independence. 

Aeticle 2. All hostilities between the Mexican 
and Texan troops will cease immediately, both on land 
and water. 

Aeticle 3. The Mexican troops will evacuate the 
territory of Texas, passing to the other side of the 
Rio Grande del Norte. 

Aeticle 4. The Mexican army, in its retreat, shall 
not take the property of any person without his con- 
sent and just indemnification, using only such articles 
as may be necessary for its subsistence in cases where 
the owners may not be present, and remitting to the 
commander of the army of Texas, or to the commis- 
sioners to be appointed for the adjustment of such 
matters, an account of the value of the property con- 



mSTOBY OF TEXAS. 291 

sumed, tlie place where taken, and tlie name of the 
owner, if it can be ascertained. 

Aeticle 5. That all private property, including 
horses, cattle, negro slaves, or indentured persons of 
whatever denomination, that may have been captured 
by any portion of the Mexican army, or may have 
taken refuge in the said army, since the commence- 
ment of the late invasion, shall be restored to the com- 
mander of the Texan army, or to such other persons 
as may be appointed by the Grovernment of Texas to 
receive them. 

Aeticle 6. The troops of both armies will refrain 
from coming into contact with each other ; and, to 
this end, the commander of the army of Texas will be 
careful not to approach within a shorter distance of 
the Mexican army than five leagues.'^ 

Article 7. The Mexican army shall not make any 
other delay on its march than that which is necessary 
to take up their hospitals, baggage, etc., and to cross 
the rivers. Any delay, not necessary to these pur- 
poses, to be considered an infraction of this agree- 
ment. 

Article 8. By express, to be immediately despatch- 
ed, this agreement shall be sent to Greneral Filisola, 
and to General T. J. Rusk, commander of the Texan 

* Nearly thirteen and one-sixth miles. 



292 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

army, in order tliat they may be apprised of its stipu- 
lations ; and, to this end, they will exchange engage- 
ments to comply with the same. 

Akticle 9. That all Texan prisoners now in pos- 
session of the Mexican army, or its authorities, be 
forth with released, and furnished with free passports to 
return to their homes ; in consideration of which a cor- 
responding number of Mexican prisoners, rank and 
file, now in possession of the Government of Texas, 
shall be immediately released. The remainder of the 
Mexican prisoners that continue in possession of the 
Government of Texas, to be treated with due human- 
ity : any extraordinary comforts that may be furnish- 
ed them to be at the charge of the Government of 
Mexico. 

Aeticle 10. General Antonio Lopez de Santa 
Anna will be sent to Vera Cruz, as soon as it shall be 
deemed proper. 

The contracting parties sign this instrument for the 
above mentioned purposes, by duplicate, at the port of 
Velasco, this the 14th day of May, 1836. 

David G. Bueistet, 

Ant°. Lopez de Santa Aistna. 

James Collingswoeth, Secretary of State. 
Bailey Haedeman, Secretary of the Treasury. 
P. H. Geaysoi^, Attorney-Gerierdl. 



HiaTOBT OF TEXAS. 293 

SECRET AGREEMENT. 

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Oeneral-in-Ohief of the Army of 
Operations, mid President of the EejmNic of Mexico, l>efore the Govern 
ment established in Texas, solemnly pledges himself to fulfil the Stipula 
tions contained in the following Articles, so far as concerns himself : — 

Aeticle 1. He will not take up arms, nor cause 
them to be taken up, against the people of Texas, 
during the present war for independence. 

Aeticle 2. He will give his orders that, in the 
shortest time, the Mexican troops may leave the ter- 
ritory of Texas. 

Aeticle 3. He will so prepare matters in the Cab- 
inet of Mexico, that the mission that may be sent 
thither by the Grovernment of Texas may be well re- 
ceived, and that by means of negotiations all differ- 
ences may be settled, and the independence that has 
been declared by the Convention may be acknow- 
ledged. 

Aeticle 4 A treaty of commerce, amity, and limits, 
will be established between Mexico and Texas, the 
territory of the latter not to extend beyond the Rio 
Bravo del Norte. 

Aeticle 5. The present return of General Santa 
Anna to Vera Cruz being indispensable for the pur- 
pose of effecting his solemn engagements, the Govern- 



294 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

ment of Texas will provide for his immediate em- 
barkation for said port. 

Aeticle 6. This instrument, being obligatory on 
one part as well as on the other, will be signed in du- 
plicate, remaining folded and sealed until the negotia- 
tions shall have been concluded, when it will be re- 
stored to his excellency General Santa Anna ; no use 
of it to be made before that time, unless there should 
be an infraction by either of the contracting parties. 

Poet of Velasco, May the lU7i, 1836. 

Anto. Lopez de Santa Anista. 

David G Buenet. 
James Colliintgswoeth, Secretary of State. 
Bailey Haedemaist, Secretary of the Treasury, 
P. H. Geatsoist, Attorney- General. 

The ratification by General Filisola of the jpublic 
agreement^ in accordance with the provision of the 8th 
article, took place on the 26th May, 1836, more 
than a month after the battle of San Jacinto. 



CHAPTER X. 

Retreat of tlie Mexican Army under Filisola. — General Woll taken prison- 
er. — ^Houston, his wound, retirement, etc. — Santa Anna and the Texas 
Cabinet at Velasco. — His protest and the President's answer, etc. 

"TTTHElSr news of tlie defeat and capture of 
' ^ Santa Anna readied Gen. Filisola, he was at tlie 
Brazos. " On the afternoon of the 23d," says Filisola, 
" I was concluding the operation of sending across the 
river the section with which General Gaona was to 
march to Nacogdoches, when a soldier of the frontier 
dragoons presented to me a small piece of paper, writ- 
ten with a pencil, by Colonel Mariano Garcia, first aid 
of Guerrero, in which he informed me of the unfortu- 
nate occurrence of the afternoon of the 21st. A short 
time after, some fugitives arrived, and among them 
Captain Miguel Aguirre, of the Tampico regiment, 
wounded in the action in the thigh, by a rifle-ball, 
who said that the defeat had been perfect, and the 
existence of the President quite doubtful. Such news 
made me immediately suspend the passage of the riv- 
er by the force that was to have gone with Gaona, 
and to send a picket of cavalry in the direction of 
the battle-ground, as much to acquire correct infor- 



296 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

mation of the actual fate of the President as to pro- 
tect the fugitives who might have escaped. But the 
enemy had burnt the bridge, which was the only road 
for retreating; and consequently the picket accom- 
plished little or nothing in either respect, for all had 
been killed or made prisoners. Alarm and discour- 
agement was general among all classes, for it was be- 
lieved that all the prisoners, the President included, 
would have been shot, as a reprisal for the conduct 
observed with theirs at Bexar and Goliad." 

Soon this alarm and discouragement turned to a 
^anic and a flight — the road from the ferry over the 
Brazos to Victoria, was strewn with wagons, baggage, 
artillery, kettles, blankets and broken-down horses. 
The streams were all swollen, the roads all miry, and 
the commissary of the unfortunate Mexicans empty. 
A quart of corn sold for a dollar, and a loaf of bread 
for three dollars. Even officers went days without 
bread to eat. 

On the 28th, Deaf Smith caught up with the fugi- 
tives and handed to Filisola the order of Santa Anna 
to retreat, but he didn't stop ; he kept on retreating, 
yet sent Gen. Woll back to see about things with a 
flag of truce. Gen. Houston, who still commanded, 
fearing that if tidings, went back through Gen. Woll 
of the paucity of the Texan army, that possibly Fili- 
sola, who yet commanded more than four thousand 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 297 

men, miglit again advance and try Ids luck in another 
battle — put Gen. Woll under arrest. 

Gen. Woll, wishing to return to Filisola, appealed 
to the flag of truce which he bore into the Texans' 
camp, but it was not of any use. Gen. Houston 
thought he had found out too much, and detained 
him. 

On the 5th May, 1836, he turned over the com- 
mand of the army to Gen. Rusk, and on taking leave 
of the heroes of San Jacinto issued the following very 
complimentary address : 

" CoMEADES : Circumstances connected with the 
battle of the 21st render our separation for the pres- 
ent unavoidable. I need not express to you the 
many painful sensations which that necessity inflicts 
upon me. I am solaced, however, by the hope that 
we will soon be reunited in the great cause of liberty. 
Brigadier-General Rusk is appointed to the command 
of the army for the present. I conflde in his valor, 
his patriotism, and his wisdom. His conduct in the 
battle of San Jacinto was sufficient to insure your 
confidence and regard. The enemy, though retreat- 
ing, are still within the limits of Texas. Their situa- 
tion being known to you, you cannot be taken by 
surprise In taking leave of my brave com- 
rades in arms, I cannot suppress the expression of 

that pride which I so justly feel in having had the 
13* 



298 MISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

honor to command them in person ; nor will I with- 
hold the tribute of my warmest admiration and grati- 
tude for the promptness with which my orders were 
executed, and union maintained through the army." 

It has been said that Gen. Houston did not wish to 
fight Santa Anna at San Jacinto, Jbut wished to re- 
treat towards Nacogdoches and the Ked lands. 

Gen. M. B. Lamar says (^Galvesto?i JVews, June 23d, 
1855) : " Some time after the council of war, I met 
Gen. Houston, and expressed to him the strong desire 
of the army to make battle. He replied nearly as 
follows : ' Sir, can I whip Santa Anna and his whole 
army by myself ? ' "Would you have me attack them 
alone ? The officers are all opposed to fighting, and 
so are the men. I have always been ready to fight, 
but the army has. not, and how can I battle ? ' This 
language astonished me much, because it was so 
directly opposed to my knowledge of facts ; but being 
a stranger in the army, and scarcely acquainted with 
Gen. Houston, I dropped the subject. Soon after this, 
I saw Col. John A. Wharton, and repeated to him 
what Gen. Houston had said. Wharton inquired : 
' Do you think he will fight ? ' My reply was : ' He 
says he will.' Taking leave of me, the Colonel re- 
paired immediately to Gen. Houston, and asked him 
if he would order a battle provided the army was 
ready to make the attack. Houston said he would. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 299 

This 1 got from Wharton, immediately after his leav- 
ing Houston. In a short time there was a general 
rejoicing through the camp : and Wharton was dash- 
ing from point to point, ordering a general parade, and 
m,arshalling the troops for hattle / ... At the moment 
we were all preparing for battle, and the lines were 
actually forming, Houston came to me, and said, in a 
whining and despairing tone : ' Col. Lamar, do you 
reall}" think we ought to fight ? ' My reply was : ' Gen. 
Houston, your question comes too late. What did we 
come here for, but to fight ? ' " 

Gen. Houston after speaking of Sherman's charge 
on the 20th, says : 

" Things remained without any change until about 
twelve o'clock, when the general was asked to call a 
council of war. No council of war had ever been 
solicited before. It seemed strange to him. What 
indications had appeared he did not know. The coun- 
cil was called, however, consisting of six field ofiicers 
and the Secretary of War. The proposition was put 
to the council, ' Shall we attack the enemy in position, 
or receive their attack in ours ? ' The two junior 
officers — ^for such is the way of taking the sense of 
courts in the army — were in favor of attacking the 
enemy in position. The four seniors, and the Secre- 
tary of War, who spoke, said, that ' to attack veteran 
troops with raw militia is a thing unheard of ; to 



300 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

charge npon tlie enemy without bayonets in an open 
prairie, had never been-known ; our situation is strong ; 
in it we can whip all Mexico.' " Understanding this 
as the sense of the council, the general dismissed them. 
They went to their respective places. 

" In the morning the sun had risen brightly, and he 
determined with this omen, ' To-day the battle shall 
take place.'" 

But overlooking the fact that a challenge passed 
between Gens. Lamar and Houston, that they were 
enemies — that the Secretary of State, S. P. Carson, 
wrote to Gen. Houston on the 14th of April, 1836 : 
" My view is, that you should fall back, if necessary^ 
to the Sabine. I am warranted in saying that volun- 
teer troops will come on in numbers, from the United 

States You must fall back, and hold out, and 

let nothing goad or provoke you to a battle, unless 
you can, without douht, whip them, or unless you are 
compelled to fight." 

Overlooking also the following letter to Henry 
E-aguet, of Nacogdoches : 

" Camp at Habkisbub&, AprU 19^A, 1836. 

" This morning we are in preparation to meet Santa 
Anna. It is the only chance of saving Texas. From 
time to time I have looked for reinforcements, in vain. 
The Convention adjourning to Harrisburg struck 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 301 

panic througliout tlie country. Texas could have 
started at least 4,000 men; we have only about 700 
to march with, besides the camp guard. We go to 
conquer. It is wisdom growing out of necessity to 
m,eet and fight the enemy now. Every consideration 
enforces it. No previous occasion would justify it. 
The t/roojps are in fine spirits^ and noiu is the time for 
action. 

"Adjutant-General Wharton, Ins. Gen. Hockley, 
aide-de-camp Horton, aides-de-camp W. H. Patton, 
Collingsworth. 

" Volunteer aids, Perry, Perry. 

"Maj. Cook, Assistant Inspector- General will be 
with me. 

" We shall use our best efforts to fight the enemy,- 
to such advantage as will insure victorj'- though the 
odds are greatly against us. I leave the result in the 
hands of a wise God, and rely upon His providence. 

" My country will do justice to those who serve 
her. The rights for which we fight will be secured, 
and Texas free. 

"Sam Houston, 

" Oommander-in- Chief. 

" Col. Rusk is in the field. 

" Houston." 

Yet it is consonant to Gen. Houston's character^ 



302 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

that he made it appear that he wished to retreat 
rather than fight. 

It is said that he was very anxious for his oldest 
son to be named after him, yet he insisted on Mrs. 
Houston's naming the boy herself, saying he would 
have nothing to do in the matter whatever. 

Mrs. Houston begged him to name the child ! No, 
he would have no hand in it. Finally she asked him 
to suggest a name. 

" Well, madam," said he, " my mother named me 
Sam, and I'm not ashamed of it. Suppose you name 
the boy Sam ! " And the child was named 8am. 

So he may have acted with regard to the battle 
of San Jacinto — appearing not to desire it, yet really 
anxious for it. 

After issuing the address as stated, in consequence 
of his wounded ankle, Gen. Houston went to New. 
Orleans for medical treatment, where more than 
twenty pieces of fractured bone were taken out. 

In the meantime the Texan Cabinet had moved to 
Velasco, where the . treaties with Santa Anna were 
made, and on the 1st of June, in pursuance of the 
puhliG agreement^ placed Santa Anna, Cols. Almonte 
and Nunez, with Caro, his private secretary, on board 
the Invincihle^ J. Brown, commander, with the inten- 
tion of sending him to Vera Cruz. 

Santa Anna, with the approbation of the Cabinet, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 303 

issued tlie following short farewell to the Texan 
army : 

"Mt Friends: I have been a witness of your| 

I 
courage in the field of battle, and know you to be 

generous. Rely with confidence on my sincerity, and 

you shall never have cause to regret the kindness 

shown me. In returning to my native land, I beg 

you to receive the thanks of your grateful friend. 

Farewell ! 

"Ant°. Lopez de Santa Anna." 

" Velasco, June 1, 1836." 

But before the Invinoihle sailed, Gren. T. J. Green, 
with 230 volunteers, arrived from New Orleans on 
the steamer Ocean. A public meeting was held, vio- 
lent speeches made, and great opposition expressed to 
the release of Santa Anna. " In this state of things," 
says Gren. Grreen, " President Burnet addressed me 
a note, requesting an interview, and asking my 
opinion in this emergency. I told him that, as to any 
violence being offered to him or his Cabinet, I pledged 
my honor to shield him and them with my life ; but 
that I was of opinion that, in accordance with the 
overwhelming public will of the citizens of the 
country, he should remand the prisoner ashore, and 
await the public will to determine his fate. The 
President promptly replied that he would do so." 



304 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Sauta Anna and suite were disembarked and again 
placed under guard. 

Army supplies were short at Velasco and the want 
of provisions sorely vexed the volunteers. 

An address was written, signed by officers and men, 
to the President, saying : " We shall not, however, 
address you in that spirit of irritation and indignation 
which pervades every one in this army, but in the 
tone which should ever characterize the intercourse 
between the ruling parties in a country." After set- 
ting forth their privations and want of provisions, 
they continue : " And to whom are we to charge these 
injuries? Surely to you, as the President of this 
republic ! It was your duty to have paid particular 
attention to the army ; to have inquired out their 
wants, and relieved them. It was surely your duty 
to have caused provisions, at least, to have been fur- 
nished, and to have dropped all other matters until 
this was done ; and you will not be surprised to learn 
that the indignation and exasperation of the army is 
now very great at the total failure to pay attention 
to them, and the conseqicences may he serious if re- 
dress is not had. And we now require that this army 
be immediately furnished with a sufficiency of such 
provisions and clothes as the public may possess or 

can be procured In conclusion," they said, " we 

repeat to you. General Santa Anna must he safely 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 305 

secured, and placed at the disposition of the coming 
Congress." 

On receiving this address the President remon- 
strated. He reminded the citizens in the field, that 
" deeds of valor were nofc alone sufiicient to establish 
the high character of an enlightened, patriotic, and 
Christian people — a scrupulous regard to the estab- 
lished and beneficent principles of morality were 
equally indispensable. Their country had but re- 
cently aspired to a standing among the nations of the 
earth ; her character, only partially displayed at 
home, had not been developed abroad ; and much of 
her future happiness and prosperity depended upon 
the moral qualities that should be unfolded to the 
world in the development of that character. The 
Government of Texas had deliberately entered into a 
treaty with the President, Santa Anna ; that treaty 
might or might not be wise ; be it what it might, it 
had been solemnly made, and the good faith of Texas 
was pledged for its consummation. The treaty had 
for its ultimate object a firm peace with Mexico, 
based upon the full recognition of Texan indepen- 
dence. The price to be paid for a blessing, great in 
the estimation of every good citizen and patriotic sol- 
dier, was the enlargement of the President, Santa 
Anna, and his restoration to Mexico. 

" It was alleged, that Santa Anna was faithless and 



306 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

unworthy of trust — that he was a prisoner, and inca- 
pable of treating — and a murderer, that ought to be 
executed. To this he replied that the government had 
already treated with him, and that he had performed^ 
and luas daily performing^ part of his stipulations. 
The treaty having been ratified by executory compli- 
ance on one part, was irrevocably and solemnly binding 
on the other. Besides, the government believed that 
Santa Anna's highest political interests would require 
the complete execution of the principal stipulation in 
his part of the treaty. ' Is there any man in Texas 
who does not believe that it is impossible for Mexico 
to subdue this country, and retain it as an integral 
part of the Mexican Kepublic ? No man in Texas is 
more fully and impressively convinced of the impossi- 
bility than is the President, Santa Anna. He has 
learned the fact by sore experience, the best possible 
teacher of practical truths. Will he then be faithless 
to his own plain interests, and to the interests of his 
country ? ' 

" It was objected that Santa Anna was a murderer, 
and ought to be tried and executed. He (President 
Burnet) had yet to learn the principle of international 
or civil law that would justify the courts, civil or 
military, of one belligerent nation in taking cognizance 
of the official military acts of the opposing com- 
mander-in-chief. But supposing the right of jurisdic- 



HISTOBY OF TEXAS. gQ^ 

tion to exist, ttey were debarred from exercising it 
by the military convention agreed upon and ratified 
between General Houston and the Mexican chief, 
before the Grovernment were apprised of his capture, 
in pursuance of which, General Filisola had agreed 
to evacuate their territory, and had already passed 
the Nueces, and was probably by that time crossing 
the Rio Grande, at the head of 5,000 men." 

In conclusion he objected to having his duties pre- 
scribed by an armed force., which, if adopted as a 
precedent, might end in military vnisrule. 

No doubt there was cause for complaint on the part 
of the troops, for if nothing to eat is not a good cause, 
what can be? But who could remove that cause? 
'Tis strange — but 'tis true — the horse marines did it, 
in this way: Major 1. W. Burton, with a company 
of Rangers, was commanded to scour the coast from 
Yelasco to Copano, and discovering a vessel in the 
bay of Copano, signalled the same to send its boat 
ashore, when, in answer, a boat with five Mexicans 
landed who were immediately captured, and the boat 
manned by sixteen Rangers — these hastened back to 
the vessel, boarded and took it. With this vessel, 
which was called the Watchman, loaded with provi- 
sions for the Mexican army, Major Burton approached 
and captured two others — the Comanche and Fanny 
JButler, hoth also freighted with provisions,' and the 



308 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 

three sent into Velasco. Major Burton and Ms 
Rangers were called horse marines^ and by these val- 
uable cargoes relieved the wants of the troops. 

Gen. Santa Anna, mortified, and no doubt extremely 
troubled at his longer detainment, on the 9th of June 
sent to President Burnet the following Protest : 

" I protest against the violation of the faith en- 
gaged in the agreement made between me and the 
Grovernment of Texas, signed the 14th of May ult. 
and commenced verbally with the general-in-chief of 
the army of Texas, Sam Houston, and T. J. Rusk, 
Secretary of War. 

" 1st. For having been treated more like an ordi- 
nary criminal than as a prisoner of war, the head of a 
respectable nation, even after the agreements had been 
commenced. 

" 2d. For the treatment as prisoner of war, and ill 
usage received by the Mexican general, Adrian Woll, 
who had come to the Texan camp with a flag of truce, 
under the safeguard and word of honor of Gen. Hous- 
ton, and with the consent of the members of the Cabinet. 

" 3d. Against the non-fulfilment of the exchange of 
prisoners, stipulated in the 9th article, inasmuch as, 
up to the present time, not even one Mexican prisoner 
of war has been set. at liberty, notwithstanding the 
liberty given to all the Texans in possession of the 
army under my command. 



HI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 309 

" dtli. Because the sine qua non of tlie lOtli article, 
as follows, has not been carried into effect : which is, 
that I shall be sent to Vera Cruz ' when the govern- 
ment shall deem, it proper ; ' whereas the President 
himself, and the Cabinet of Texas, being convinced that 
I had punctually fulfilled all my engagements, viz., 
that the Mexican army, 4,000 strong, should retreat 
from the position it occupied on the Brazos to beyond 
the ' Rio Grande ; ' that all the property should be 
given up, also the prisoners of war — had determined 
on my embarking in the Texan schooner of war, the In- 
vincihle^ in which I finally did embark on the 1st June 
instant, after addressing a short farewell to the Texans, 
wherein I thanked them for theii" generous behavior, 
and offered my eternal gratitude. 

" 5th. For the act of violence committed on my per- 
son, and abuse to which I have been exposed, in com- 
pelling me to come again ashore, on the 4th instant, 
merely because 130 volunteers, under the command of 
General Thomas J. Green, recently landed on the 
beach at Velasco from New Orleans, had, with tumults 
and with threats, requested that my person should be 
placed at their disposal 

" Finally, I protest against the violence kept up 
towards me, by being placed in a narrow prison, sur- 
rounded with sentinels, and suffering privations which 
absolutely render life insupportable, or tend to hasten 



310 HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

death ; and finally, for being uncertain in regard to 
my future fate, and. that of the other prisoners, not- 
withstanding a solemn treaty." 

To the protest of Santa Anna, President Burnet 
answered the next day, with " profound mortification," 
' and plead the action of the army^ or the troops at 
Velasco. 

" But," he added, " the causes that have produced 
the constraint under which the government have acted 
are not unknown to you, and I should regret to believe 
that you were incapable of giving to them a just ap- 
preciation. The citizens, and the citizen soldiers of 
Texas, have felt, and do feel, a deep, intense, and 
righteous indignation at the many atrocities which 
have been perpetrated by the troops lately under your 
Excellency's command ; and especially at the barbar- 
ous massacre of the brave Colonel Fannin and his 
gallant companions. How far your Excellency par- 
ticipated in that abominable and inglorious slaughter 
I am not disposed to conjecture ; but it is both natural 
and true that the people of Texas impute it to your 
Excellency's special command. 

" 1st. I do not precisely comprehend the character 
of the treatment objected to, and would have been 
pleased to have had the specifications. If your Ex- 
cellency alludes to the accommodations which have 
been assigned to yon, I v^^ould reply that I have cheer- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 311 

fully subjected my own sick family to many hard- 
sliips in order to render to your Excellency the best 
accommodations in our power. That Ave are at present 
destitute of the ordinary comforts of life is mainly 
attributable to your Excellency's visit to our new 
country ; and on this account we feel less regret that 
you should partake of our privations. 

" 2d. Your second protest, relating to the treatment 
experienced by the Mexican general, Adrian Woll, 
involves some facts which I do sincerely deplore, but 
for which this government is not strictly responsible. 

" Your Excellency is sensible that we have done all 
in our power to guarantee the safe return of Gen. 
Woll to the Mexican camp ; but our orders have been 
"contravened by the commander of the Texan army, at 
a remote distance from the seat of government. The 
reasons that have actuated that officer have not been 
fully detailed to us; but we are informed that they 
are predicated on some alleged imprudences of Gen. 
"Woll, whose good discretion, we know, has not been 
very conspicuously manifested during his stay amongst 
us. 

"3d. The third article of your protest is 'against 
the non-fulfilment of the exchange of prisoners stipu- 
lated in the ninth article, inasmuch as, up to the 
present time, not one Mexican prisoner of war has 
been set at liberty, notwithstanding the liberty given 



3X2 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

to all the Texans in possession of tlie army under my 
command.' 

"Your Excellency seems to have a more minute 
intelligence on this subject than has come to my 
knowledg-e ; for I have no official information of a 
single Texan prisoner having been given up under the 
treaty. Some of the intended victims, the compan- 
ions of the murdered Fannin, have happily effected 
their escape, and safely arrived amongst us ; but these 
cannot be considered as liberated in the sense of the 
treaty; whereas, this government has gratuitously 
discharged several Mexican captives, and defrayed 
their expenses to New Orleans, the destination which 
they solicited. 

" 4th. The fourth clause of your Excellency's protest 
has been antecedently answered in part. Your Ex- 
cellency's recollection has betrayed you into an error, 
when you say, ' the President himself, and the Cabinet 
of Texas, being convinced that I had punctually ful- 
filled all my engagements,' etc. 

" This government were convinced that your Excel- 
lency had complied with some of your stipulations, 
and this conviction aggravates the mortification which 
the late events have inflicted upon them. But they 
were not informed that ' all the property had been 
given up ; or that any of the prisoners had been re- 
stored, as your Excellency erroneously imagines. On 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 313 

the contrary, we were advised tliat large herds of 
cattle liad been driven in advance of tlie retreating 
army; and tliat a few only of tlie slaves that had been 
abducted were returned. 

"It is due to your Excellency to say, that the 
government confidently believed that these restora- 
tions would be effected as early as a projDer con- 
venience would admit. But I am induced to advert 
to another fact, in relation to which it would be diffi- 
cult to extend the same cha,ritable exculpation to the 
officers of the Mexican army. It has been reported 
that the walls of the Alamo at Bexar have been pros- 
trated, and that the valuable brass artillery attached 
to that fortress have been melted down and destroyed. 

'^ There were many painful, and pleasing, and glo- 
rious reminiscences connected with that Alamo, which 
renders its wanton dilapidation peculiarly odious to 
every Texan spirit ; and your Excellency needs not to 
be informed that the destruction of it was an infrac- 
tion of the armistice, and a violation of the treaty. 

" 5th. In reply to your Excellency's fifth protesta- 
tion, I remark, that the painful circumstances which 
induced the government to direct your debarkation 
have already been adverted to in a spirit of frankness 
and of self-humiliation, which a consciousness of error 
alone could extort. It were superfluous to repeat the 
causes which induced this Government to vary its dis- 

14: 



314 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

cretion in regard to the time they should deem the 
departure of your Excellency to be proper. I am not 
sensible of any act of ' violence and abuse ' to which 
you were exposed, that was not necessarily concomi- 
tant on your return to shore. 

" To your final protest I reply, that while you are a 
prisoner ordinary precautions are inevitable. I have 
not been apprised of anythiug more ; and your priva- 
tions (as alleged) are those we suffer ourselves." 

For heing uncertain in regard to my future fate ! 
Poor wretch ! no doubt he was sincere in his protest, 
and wanted to go home. 

But no man can jput off the law of God which per- 
vades the universe, and rewards or punishes every 
human action, making it foolish to do evil, and wise 
to do good. 

Well might he exclaim, in the language of the 
poet : 

" That Mgh All-seer, which I dallied with, 
Hath turned my feigned prayer on my head, 
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest. 
Thus doth He force the swords of wicked men 
To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms." 

And thus a knowledge of the law of retribution 
should ever stay the evil-doers' hands, for 

" Our acts our angels are, or good or ill. 
Our fatal shadows that wallc 'by us still ! " 



CHAPTER XL 

The Policy of the United States towards Texas. — Instructions to the Dis- 
trict-Attorneys. — Sympathy of the people for Texans.— Austin's great 
success and letter to Houston. — Henry Clay speaks of Texas and Sau 
Jacinto. — Resolutions pass Congress, and Morfit sent to Texas. — Goras- 
tiza and President Jackson. — XJrrea supersedes Filisola in command 
of the Mexican army. — Santa Anna and Austin. — Efforts for Peace. — 
The Army. — Lamar appointed Major-Qeneral. — ^His Rejection by the 
Army. 

r i IHE government at Washington, D.C., gave no en- 
couragement to the Texas revolutionists. Soon 
after the battle of Gonzales, the administration, at the 
instance of the Mexican representative at Washington, 
caused letters to be written and sent to the United 
States District-Attorneys on the frontier and Gulf 
coast, instructing them, as far as they could legally, 
to enforce the existing treaty with Mexico, and give 
neither aid nor comfort to her rebellious colonists. 

But these colonists went from the United States to 
settle Texas, and left fathers, mothers, brothers, and 
sisters behind them, who listened with eao;erness for 
news from their loved ones who were struggling for 
their new homes against such tremendous odds. 

Austin and his associate commissioners Avere among 
them and spoke winged words that went home to 



316 HI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

their hearts, and brouglit fortli tears from their eyes, 
and fruits — aid and comfort — to their needy kin- 
folks. 

Yoakum says : " General Austin was particularly 
successful ; his long services in Texas, and his known 
truthfulness and simplicity of character, gave great 
weight to what he said. Though not an orator, he 
spoke with clearness and judgment, and enforced his 
positions with facts that were irresistible. His ad- 
dress at Louisville, which was widely published, pre- 
sented the claims of Texas upon the civilized world 
for sym23athy and aid in such manner as to bring her 
both." " Austin is doing wonders among us for his 
country," says a sensible writer of Virginia ; " he is a 
Franklin in patience and prudence." 

Edward Conrad, another agent, wrote from New 
Orleans, April 30th, to Gen. Houston : 

" News received here from every part of the United 
States is very cheering. The cruelty of the Mexi- 
cans and their disgraceful treachery have caused a 
general burst of indignation from North and South. 
Fifty men leave here to-day by way of Galveston. 
General Felix Huston leaves Natchez, on the 5th of 
May next, with from 500 to 700 men. He will 
be accompanied by Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Colonel 
Bowie who fell in the Alamo. They will march 
through lower Louisiana, directly to Harrisburg, or 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 3^7 

wherever your headquarters may be established. 
Fifty men have left Philadelphia ; and, by the latest 
papers, I see that a county and town meeting has been 
called for the relief of Texas. A meetino; has also 
been called in Baltimore. Men are gathering in Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky ; and, in short, in every part of 
the United States the barbarity of the enemy has 
harrowed up the hearts of all Americans, and a storm 
is gathering, the thunders of which will reach the 
centre of Mexico. The whole American press is in 
our favor. ... In case our arms are successful, I hope 
our soldiers will not allow their passions to urge them 
to acts of barbarity, and thus deprive us of the im- 
mense moral strength we now possess in the sympathy 
and respect of all civilized men. Such acts, on the 
part of the Mexicans, have injured them more than our 
arms could have done ; and retaliation on our part, I 
fear, would be equally fatal to Texas. I am happy 
in assuring you that you possess many warm friends 
in the United States, and that the prudent course you 
have pursued has inspired universal confidence as to 
the eventual result of the war. It is sincerely wished 
that a doubtful engagement will not be risked by you, 
as a very short time must give you force enough to 
place the contest beyond hazard." 

This letter was written before the writer had heard 
of the Texscns^ feast of hlood at San Jacinto. 



31 S HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

On tlie IStli of June, Mr. Austin wrote fi'om New 
Orleans to Gen. Houston : 

" I shall do all I can to procure the annexation of 
Texas to the United States, on just and fair princi- 
ples The first step is a recognition of our 

independence ; that done, the way is clear and open. 
If official reports in manuscript of all the principal 
facts in regard to the political and military state of 
things in Texas had been sent by the executive govern- 
ment of Texas to their agents at Washington, I could 
now have had the recognition of our independence to 
take home. Nothing but the want of such official docu- 
tnents was wanted when I left Washington. I believe 
that a report from you, signed by yourself, would have 
been fully sufficient. There were no accounts of the 
battle of San Jacinto, except those in the newspapers. 

"I am of opinion that oui* independence will be 
acknowledged, and that Texas will be admitted into 
these United States if they are regularly asked for." 

On the 18th June, the great American orator, 
Hemy Clay, chairman of the Senate's Committee on 
Foreign Relations, reported favorably to the recog- 
nition of the independence of Texas, so soon as it 
should a^ypear tliat she had in '' snccessful operation^ a 
civil government^ capable of ijerforming and fulfilling 
the obligations of an independent poiver.'''' 

Speaking of the military struggle, he said : 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 319 

" If the contest has been unequal, it has, neverthe- 
less, been maintained by Texas with uncommon reso- 
lution, undaunted valor, and eminent success; and 
the recent splendid victory — in which that portion of 
the Mexican army which was commanded by Gen. 
Santa Anna, the President of the Mexican Govern- 
ment, in person, was entirely overthrown with unex- 
ampled slaughter, compared with the inconsiderable 
loss on the other side, put to flight and captured, in- 
cluding among the prisoners the President himself and 
staff — may be considered as decisive of the independ- 
ence of Texas." 

Mr. Clay's report was adopted, and resolutions 
passed both houses of Congress, under which Presi- 
dent Jackson appointed Mr. Morfit commissioner to 
visit Texas, and report on its situation, population, and 
resources. 

The Indians about this time becoming troublesome, 
the President ordered Gen. E. P. Gaines to attend to 
them. 

"When informing the Mexicans of this, he said : 

"It is my duty to preserve neutrality; and with 
that view I have ordered Gen. Gaines to a position 
favorable to a speedy execution of the boundary treaty, 
and to prevent interference with the Indians." 

When the subject of Texas was alluded to, and the 
no-jprisoner policy of Santa Anna censured by Old 



820 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

Hickory^ Gorostiza alleged tliat it was necessary to 
tlie consolidation of the dictator's liberal policy that 
rebel blood should be sacrificed. Jackson replied 
that it was a sacrifice of American blood. "True, 
your Excellency," said the minister, "but among the 
candidates for land, we could not discriminate." 
" Well, well," answered the President, " Santa Anna, 
and all others, will find such immolations very un- 
savory and indigestible." 

Never did the hero of Olialmette say truer words. 
Even the instruments of Santa Anna's cruelty shud- 
dered at the execution of his decrees. 

But Mexico still tenaciously clung to the idea of 
subjugating Texas. Filisola was superseded by the 
conqueror of Goliad, Gen. Urrea, who concentrated 
at Matamoras, in July, 4,000 troops. 

But the poor children of Montezuma had no leader 
nor master-spirit to preside in their council. 

Their house was divided, and, in the absence of their 
President-General, one of the people published a 
pamphlet, entitled. The Teial of Santa Aistna, in 
which that distinguished individual is thus truthfully 
described : 

" Don Antonio, like Icarus, in attempting to soar 
too high, was precipitated into the abyss below. We 
would ask, who is this protector of religion? A man 
loaded with vice in all its forms. The particular 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 321 

attribute of religion is charity ; it knows not how to 
cause evil or pain to any one. Nevertheless, Don An- 
tonio has shown himself vicious by instinct ! He rose 
successively against Iturbide, Victoria, Bustamente, 
and Gomez Farias : no commotion occurred in which 
he did not take an active part. His aim was always 
disorder, and for no other purpose than the satisfac- 
tion of disturbing the public tranquillity. We have 
seen him at one time for the Yorkists, and at another 
for the Scotch. . . . The pretensions of this monster 
have caused the death of many citizens at Vera Cruz, 
Tolome, Oajaca, El Palmar, Puebla, Posados, Casa 
Blanca, Otumba, Queretaro, Guanajuato, San Luis, 
Los Carmelos, Zacatecas, etc. At the time of the 
presumptuous campaign of Tampico, he put to death, 
without any cause, a number of Mexicans; and now, 
in Texas, he has given cause to horrible reprisals by his 
inhuman conduct. If it were possible to pile one ujDon 
the other the bodies of the dead whose untimely end 
has been promoted by Gen. Santa Anna, they would 
doubtless form a mountain higher than that of Popo- 
catepetl ! — and we would say to his flatterers, ^Behold 
a moimnnent erected to humanity and the protector of 
religion I ' " 

But bad as he was, Urrea and his Mexicans could 
do nothing without him. 

According to Yoakum : 
l4* 



322 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

" Gen. Austin returned to Texas in tte first days of 
July, and visited Santa Anna in Columbia (wiiitiier 
the latter had been taken). The prisoner now made 
another eifort toward an adjustment of the difficulties 
between the two countries. He proposed to Austin 
the friendly mediation of the Government of the 
United States, and, with that view, addressed a letter 
to President Jackson. In this communication, after 
giving a pretty correct sketch of recent events, he 
stated that the home government of Mexico, not 
understanding matters, had displaced Filisola, and 
appointed Urrea to the command of the army, who 
had advanced, as was understood, as far as the Nueces, 
which had increased the excitement of th« public mind 
in Texas, and the chance of further bloodshed, unless 
some powerful hand would interpose and cause the 
voice of reason to be heard; that in his opinion 
Jackson was the only man who could do good to 
humanity by acting as mediator, in having the treaties 
carried out. He accordingly called upon him to act as 
such. At the same time he wrote a letter to Urrea, and 
gave it as his opinion that the war should at once 
cease, and that the existing differences should be set- 
tled by diplomacy; that Urrea should halt at some con- 
venient place, and proceed no farther ; " and then," con- 
tinued Santa Anna," I have not the least doubt that so 
soon as you officially say to the Texan commander that, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 323 

' SO soon as my person will be in absolute liberty to join 
yon, then you will retreat beyond the Rio Grande, 
and cease hostilities,' I shall effect my departure to 
join you, and proceed on my way to the capital." He 
further stated to Urrea that he need not regard the 
orders sent from Mexico ; for that, as soon as he re- 
ceived his liberty and reached the capital, he would 
hold him harmless. 

However, the Mexican Government had already 
notified the United States that the functions of their 
President-General were suspended, but President 
Jackson wrote to Santa Anna, that he very much de- 
sired peace between Mexico and Texas, and when 
Mexico desired it, the good offices of the United 
States should be devoted to a restoration of it. 

In July, the army of Texas had increased to 2,300 
soldiers, who were anxious for battle and burning for 
distinction. 

They had come to gain glory and renown, as tlie 
poet hath it : 

" Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, 
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, 
Seeking the bubble reputation 
Even in the cannon's mouth." 

They had come for busi7iess, but there was nothing 
to do. 



324 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The army was 

" As idle as a painted ship 
Upon a painted ocean." 

However, President Burnet, seeing their want of 
business, sent them a nut to crack. 

About the 1st of July, 1836, he appointed Gren. 
Miraheaic B. Lamar, then Secretary of War, Major- 
General of the army, and his arrival at head -quarters, 
and introduction to office is thus described by (xen. 
Felix Houston : 

" I arrived at the army on the 4th of July. I had 
no acquaintance with Greneral Rusk, or any of the 
officers, except Adjutant-Greneral Smith, Colonel Mil- 
lard, and Captains Millroy and Wiggington, all of 
whom I had known but a day or two. I mention 
this to show that I was detached from the intrigues 
of the army, even were I capable of entering into the 
disgraceful contests for office, which are so often the 
bane of order and discipline. 

" A few hours after my arrival I was waited on by 
an officer, who requested me to act as chairman of a 
meeting of officers convened for the purpose of de- 
termining on the reception of General Lamar. I ac- 
cepted the appointment. At the meeting many sug- 
gestions were made, and I obtained much information 
that was new to me. All present appeared to esti- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 325 

mate General Lamar highly, Lut were disposed to re- 
ject liim as commander-in-cliief, upon the grounds that 
the Cabinet had no right to supersede General Sam 
Houston, and because they would not consent to the 
destruction of General Rusk, which they deemed to 
be the object of the Cabinet in making the appoint- 
ment. Seeing the disposition of the officers, and hav- 
ing a high opinion of General Lamar from character, 
I suggested the propriety of appointing a committee 
to draft resolutions, as respectful as possible to him. 
The suggestion was adopted, and I was added to the 
committee. When the committee met, I exerted my 
influence to have the resolutions so drawn that Gen- 
eral Lamar's feelings should not be wounded ; that 
he should see that the objections to his appointment 
were not personal to him, but that, on the contrary, 
all the officers esteemed him highly. The committee 
adopted my plan General Rusk had no con- 
nection whatever with the meeting or resolutions.* 

" When I ascertained that General Lamar was ap- 
proaching the camp, I sent two officers to wait on 



* ' ' Resolved, That this meeting highly appreciate the gallantry and worth 
of General Lamar, and will be at all times ready to receive him with the 
cordiality and respect due to his personal and military acquirements. 

'■^Resolved, That Colonel B. F. Smith and Colonel H. Millard be appointed 
a committee to wait on General Lemar, and tender him the respects of this 
meeting, and inform him that there being some question of the propriety 



326 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

Mm with the resolutions. Previous to their starting, 
General Kusk had ordered the usual salutes to be 
fired for his reception. On their returning 'and in- 
forming me that General Lamar acceded to the pro- 
position, I countermanded the order for firing the 
salutes, without consulting General Rusk. When 
General Lamar arrived in camp, he was cordially re- 
ceived ; and I hoped he would consult with the offi- 
cers, and that the matter might be amicably settled : 
but I soon understood that he determined to lay the 
subject of his reception before the whole army, and 
take their vote. Accordingly, at his request, the 
army were paraded in the evening by General Rusk. 
Aitei' the square was formed, General Rusk presented 
him to the army in almost these words : " Fellow- 
soldiers, I have the honor to present to you Major- 
General Lamar, appointed by the Cabinet." General 
Lamar then addressed the army, and recounted his 
deeds in a glowing form. He stated that he had 
fought in the ranks, etc. ; that he was about returning 
to the United States when the late news of the re- 
turning enemy — the Mexicans — reached him; that he 



of his appointment by the President as major-general of the Texan army, by 
which he is directed to assume the chief cominand of the army, he is re- 
quested by the officers present not to act in his official capacity of major- 
general until the subject may be more maturely considered by the meeting 
of the officers of the army." 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 327 

immediately determined to return to the army, when 
the Cabinet, unsolicited by him, had conferred on him 
the office of commander-in-chief; that, on his arrival 
in camp, he had learned that there were some objec- 
tions, by some of the army, to Ms appointment ; that 
he was not ambitious of the office— he did not desire 
to wear tinsel on his shoulders ; that the voice of 
man made generals, but God made heroes, etc. And 
he repeatedly stated that if his appointment was not 
acceptable to the army, he would cheerfully go into 
the ranks and fight by their sides, and lead the van 
to victory, guided by the flash of his sword. 

"From some remarks made by Greneral Lamar, 
General Green appeared to think that some allusion 
was made to him ! and he addressed the army in a 
short manner, stating that he thought that General 
Sam Houston was the proper commander-in-chief; 
and he said something about the impropriety of the 
Cabinet making the appointment over the head of 
General Kusk, who had the confidence of the army 
and the people. General Lamar replied, in an excited 
manner, that he did not disclaim the desire of being 
commander-in-chief; and made some remarks about 
some letters of General Rusk to the Cabinet, request- 
ing a major-general to be appointed. 

" After General Lamar concluded. General Rusk 
addressed the meeting, and complained that, when 



328 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the army was reduced to 300 or 400 men, when 
it was dispirited by the loathsome office of gal- 
lanting a defeated enemy from the country, etc., he 
had written to the President, advising the appoint- 
ment of a major-general, that the army should be in- 
creased, as the Mexicans were retiring, induced by 
their pay, and that the war was not at an end, etc. 
He said that his expectation then was to visit his 
family and to attend to his private affairs ; but that, 
when the enemy were exiDCcted to return in force, 
when the army was increasing rapidly, and when it 
would be disgraceful for him to adandon his post, 
his letters, written under different circumstances, were 
used as the pretext for making the appointment, 
etc. 

" After these speeches, there were a great many 
calls by the troops — a few ' Lamar ! ' a number 
^ JRush ! ' and a great number ' Houston ! ' Some few 
called out particularly for me. I advanced, and 
stated that I was aware that the great mass of the 
calls for ' Houston ' were intended for Sam Houston, 
the true ^ commander-in-chief ; ' that I had no preten- 
sions to the command, and, in a jocund manner, ob- 
served that the only gauntlet thrown which I would 
take up was the remark of one of the generals, that 
he would lead the van — that, so long as my name was 
Felix Houston, I would lead the van. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. . 329 

" Thus ended the speeches. After a little dela}^ 
and some confusion, I applied to General Lamar, and 
asked him how he would have the question put; and 
told him I would put it to the army as he desired. 
He then stated the question, ' Were the army willing 
to receive him as commander-in-chief ? ' I ordered 
silence, and stationed two officers for the voters to 
form on, and put the question in these words : ' Those 
who are in favor of receiving General Lamar as com- 
mander-in-chief of the army will form on Major 
"Ward, stationed on my right ; and those opposed to 
receiving General Lamar as commander-in-chief of the 
army will form on Colonel Morehouse, stationed on 
my left.' When I stated the question, Major Handy, 
acting as aide to General Lamar, observe-d that he did 
not think the question was stated as General Lamar 
desired. I requested him to see General Lamar. He 
did so, and said that I was right. At that time 
another gentleman rode up, and said to me that Gen- 
eral Lamar did not know whether it was understood 
in his speech that he would only hold the appoint- 
ment tempoi'arily, until the arrival of General Sam 
Houston, and wished I would so state, which I did, 
turning to the different parts of the army, repeating 
his request, and the question, and asking if they all 
understood me. I then gave the word ' March I ^ 
The tellers whom I had appointed reported 179 votes 



330 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

for General Lamar ; and as there appeared about 
1,500 votes against him, I stated it was not wortL. 
while to count tliem. 

" On the next day I was informed Lamar intended 
to insist on the command. I waited on him, in com- 
j)any with General Green. In the course of the con- 
versation. General Lamar stated that General Sam 
Houston, by leaving Texas, had forfeited his station 
as commander-in-chief. General Green stated that he 
understood that he was absent on a furlough for 
three months. General Lamar said he was not aware 
of such being the case ; and if so, he would have 
known it, as he was Secretary of War when General 
Sam Houston left. During the next day I under- 
stood that General Lamar had commenced acting: as 
commander-in-chief, and had signed a furlough under 
that title. The camp was in great agitation : many 
persons commenced leaving it. I felt great uneasi- 
ness, and expressed a fear that serious difficulties 
might take place. This state of affairs lasted till 
General Lamar had a meeting of the officers called. 
He addressed them, and I understood him to refer it 
to them whether he should resign or not. After a 
pause, and some remarks of General Green and Major 
Miller, he signified his intention to retire. On the 
next day he left the army." 

It can be readily imagined that such scenes as this 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 331 

should cause men of genius, learning, and honor to 
despair of Texas and to withdraw from her army, for 
they had been taught in their youth : 

" Fling away ambition ! 
By that sin fell the angels — 
Love thyself last ! 

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace. 
To silence envious tongues : be just and fear not. 
Let all the ends tliou aiTri'st at be thy country's, 
Thy God's, and truth's !" 



CHAPTER XII. 

Mexicans threaten Invasion. — The project of invading Mexico. — Houston 
opposes it. — ^Is elected President. — Santa Anna liberated and sent to 
Washington, D.C., and thence to Mexico. — His two letters. — Charles 
Compte de Farnesfe, and his plan. — Poverty of Texas. — Scrip and Im- 
pressment. — Gov. McDuiSe on Texas, — The President's Message. — 
Death of Zavala and Austin. 

rriHE Mexican army remained inactive in Mata- 
moras for months. Urrea was not supplied 
with the necessary appliances and means for the sub- 
jugation of Texas, so he moved not, while his com- 
mander-in-chief, General Bravo, at San Luis Potosi, by 
proclamation, thus abused the abominable Texans : 

" Since the grand work of our independence was 
achieved," said the general, " our country never called 
upon its worthy sons in defence of a more sacred 
cause, nor to sustain a more just war. In that Texas, 
where there should only be found people friendly to 
the Mexicans, and grateful for the generous hospi- 
tality granted to them, you but meet with hordes of 
insolent adventurers, who, when our usur|)ed lands 
are claimed from them, answer by raising the savage 
cry of war. A trifling success, which must be attrib- 
uted to the contempt with which they were looked 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 333 

upon, and by no means to tlieir own prowess, lias 
filled tlieinwitli vainglory." 

The Mexicans not coming to Texas, it was proposed 
in the Texan army for the Texans to go to Mexico, 
but this was opposed by General Houston, who, in 
July, returned from New Orleans to Nacogdoches, to 
which place Gen. E. P. Gaines had ordered Col. 
Whistler with a portion of his regiment (including 
Lieut. R. E. Lee, afterwards distinguished as the 
great Confederate General), in order to look after the 
Indians. 

Gen. Gaines was a friend of Texas, and not only by 
words^ but in ivriting to that gentleman thus approved 
the policy of Gen. Houston: 

" Your views, urging the propriety of concentration 
within supporting distance of the settled parts of 
Texas, and pointing out the inevitable and worse than 
useless risk of operations upon Matamoras, or upon 
any other part of your western frontier, without a 
superiority of naval force, evince an extent and a 
justness of reflection, comj)rehension, forecast, and 
military mind, which, if sustained, cannot but in- 
sure triumph — complete triumph — to the cause of 
Texas." 

So the projected invasion of Mexico fell through ; 
in the meanwhile the army took up the case of the 
President- General, who, in July, through the assistance 



334 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

of Bartholomew Pages instigated by tlie Mexican con- 
sul at New Orleans, had attempted to escape. 

A majority of the army favored his trial by a court- 
martial, and even sent after the august criminal to put 
him on trial, but when the officer and his company 
sent after him arrived at Columbia, whither Santa 
Anna had been removed from Yelasco, he met the 
written pi*otest of Gen. Houston. 

Yoakum says : " The protest only reached Captain 
Patton, who had the captive in charge, in time to 
prevent his removal. Captain J. H. Sheppard, the 
bearer of the document, says the pleasant change of 
affairs filled Santa Anna with joy, and he embraced 
him as one who had saved his life." 

Hearing of this affair. President Jackson, on the 4th 
of September, wrote to Gren. Houston : " I take the lib- 
erty of offering a remark or two upon a report which 
is current here, that Santa Anna is to be brought 
before a military court, to be tried and shot. • Nothing 
now could tarnish the character of Texas more than 
such an act as this. Sound policy as well as humanity 
approved of the counsels which spared him his life. 
It gave possession of G-oliad and the Alamo without 
blood, or the loss of any portion of your army. His 
person is still of much consequence to you. Pie is the 
pride of Mexican soldiers, and the favorite of the 
priesthood. While he is in your power, the difficulties 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 335 

of your enemy in raising another army will continue 
to be great. The soldiers of Mexico will not willingly 
march into Texas when they knoAV that their advance 
may cost their favorite general his life. Let not his 
blood be shed, unless imperious necessity demands it 
as a retaliation for future Mexican massacres. Both 
wisdom and humanity enjoin this course in relation to 
Santa Anna." 

Gen. Gaines, whose big heart was enthused in the 
cause of Texas, had, on the 8d of August, more than 
a month anterior, written to Gen. Houston as follows : 

*' No inconsiderable portion of your fame, resulting 
from your late campaign, the great victory of San 
Jacinto, will be found in the magnanimity and moral 
courage displayed by you in preserving the lives of 
your prisoners, and more especially the life of Presi- 
dent Santa Anna, when taken in connection with the 
great provocation given in his previous conduct at the 
Alamo and at Goliad. The Government and infant 
Republic of Texas will derive imperishable fame from 
their and your forbearance and humanity in this case. 
All civilized and enlightened men, in all time and 
geographical space, will unite in filling the measure 
of glory and honor due for such magnanimity, for- 
bearance, and humanity." 

On the 23d of July, 1836, an election was ordered 
by the Provisional Government, to take place on the 



336 HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

first Monday of September, in all the counties of the 
Eepiiblic, for President, Vice-President, and members 
of Congress, under the netv Co7istitutio7i, and the 
Government elected were ordered to meet on the first 
Monday in October for inauguration at Columbia. 

Ex-Governor Smith, Gens. Lamar, Austin, and 
Houston were candidates. 

The latter thus explains why he became a candi- 
date : " After the capture of Santa Anna," says he, 
" I was compelled to go to New Orleans, in the 
month of May, for surgical as well as medical aid. 
On my arrival, I met a number of Texans there, and 
they requested me to become a candidate for the 
presidency. This I positively refused to do. From 
that time up to within fourteen days of the election^ 
I refused to let my name be used, nor would I, if 
elected, consent to serve in the ofiice. General Austin 
and Governor Smith were the candidates, and with 
these gentlemen my relations were most kind. It was 
not a desire to obtain the ofiice of president which 
ultimately caused me to let my name be used ; but 
there were two parties in Texas, which were known 
as the ^Austin ' and ' Wlim^tan ' parties. I intend no 
disparagement to either of the distinguished gentle- 
men or either of their friends, but it is necessary thug 
to describe the condition of the political elements^ 
then in Texas. Governor Smith was the ostensible 




SANTA ANNA. 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 337 

head of the ' Wharton ' party. So far as I could 
judge, the parties were pretty equally balanced. In 
this posture of affairs, I was firmly impressed with a 
belief that, if either of the gentlemen should be 
elected, it would be next to impossible to organize and 
sustain a government ; as, whoever he might be, he 
would be compelled to fill all the ofiices with his own 
friends, and those of opposite feelings would, of 
course, oppose the administration, which, in the then 
condition of the country, could only be sustained by 
the united efforts of the community. Not being 
identified with either of the parties, I believed I 
would be enabled so to consolidate the influence of 
both, by harmonizing them, as to form an administra- 
tion which would triumph over all the difficulties 
attendant upon the outset of the constitutional Grov- 
ernment of Texas." 

Gens. Houston and Lamar were elected President 
and Vice-President of the Republic, and were in- 
stalled into office on the 2 2d of October, 1836, the 
Congress, however, had assembled on the 3d of the 
same month. 

They both made appropriate inaugural addresses to 

the Congress, for they were both excellent speakers. 

In learning no doubt Gen. Lamar was greatly Gen. 

Houston's superior, but in personal appearance, grace, 

and dignity of manners which tend powerfully ad 
15 



338 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

captmidum vulgus, Gen. Houston greatly excelled 
Lamar. 

He delivered Hs inaugural with his sword on, but 
at its close lie took it off and with, memorable so- 
lemnity, handed it to the Speaker, saying : " It now 
becomes my duty to make a presentation of this 
sword, the emblem of my past office. I have worn it 
with some humble pretensions in defence of my 
country ; and should the danger of my country again 
call for my services, I expect to resume it, and re- 
spond to that call, if needful, with my blood and my 
life." 

Stephen F. Austin was appointed Secretary of State ; 
Henry Smith, Treasurer ; Gen. Eusk was taken into 
the new Cabinet ; and Felix Huston succeeded to the 
command of the army. 

And thus Texas began to figure as a State — not of 
the Mexican Union, but as one of the nations of the 
earth. 

Soon the old municipalities were organized into 
Counties and Precincts. District Courts, County 
Courts, and Justices' Courts were established. Judges, 
sheriffs, justices of the peace, and constables succeeded 
the political chiefs, alcaldes, co77imandantes, etc., of 
the olden time, while the common law of England 
was adopted as the law of the land in all criminal 
cases, and partially in civil proceedings. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 339 

The old town of Viesca was renamed Milam^ 
Houston was founded, and the steamers of Charles 
Morgan made regular trips from New Orleans to the 
Texas ports. 

But the President-General still lingered in durance 
vile, yet cheered with the hope of once more revelling 
in the far-distant halls of Montezuma. Soon after 
handing the Speaker of the House his sabre, as before 
stated. President Houston visited the self-styled 
Napoleon of the West in his prison at Orazvmha^ and 
consoled him in his sore distress, no doubt promising, 
so soon as the troubled waters subsided, to rescue him 
from those hm'harians who sought his blood, as the 
only worthy sacrifice they could make to the manes 
of the immortal heroes of the Alamo, and the loved 
but lost at Goliad. 

What transpired between " the hero of San Ja- 
cinto " and " the Napoleon of the WesV is not left to 
conjecture, and as it is good evidence to convict the 
wily Mexican of using more highly wrought and deli- 
cately polished hyperboles than that gay and festive 

but reverend gentleman, H. W. B , a letter 

written by Gen. Santa Anna on the eve of his libera- 
tion to President Houston is here inserted : 



340 HISTOBT OF TEXAS 

[TKANSLATION.] 

" Orazimba, November 5, 1836. 

^^To His Excellency General Sam Houston. 

" My Esteemed Sie : Through the channel of your 
commissioners, and by my conversation with you on 
the 2d instant, I have manifested to you the import- 
ance of my visit to Washington City, to adopt the 
most effectual mode of terminating the Texan ques- 
tion ; and, as time is passing, without any definite 
action, when it is most precious, I am desirous that 
you, who are so deeply interested in the welfare of 
this country, should expedite the final determina- 
tion of this question — using, if you should deem it 
advisable, the following reasons ; 

"When the treaty of the 14th of May was entered 
into, it was based upon the principle that Texas 
should form an independent nation, and should ac- 
quire a legal existence by means of the acknowledg- 
ment of Mexico. But, as that basis has been changed 
by the recent declaration of the people of Texas in 
favor of annexation to the United States of the North, 
it appears to me that, by this declaration, the question 
is much simplified ; because, in future, it will apper- 
tain to the Cabinet at Washington to regulate this 
matter, and with whom Mexico will not hesitate to 
enter into explanations, as a definite treaty is desired. 

" The mode of effecting this important object, with- 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 341 

out loss of time, is wliat I hope to attain by my con- 
ference with the Cabinet at "Washington, at the same 
time conciliating all interests. Convinced as I am 
that Texas will never reunite with Mexico, I am de- 
sirous, on my part, to improve the advantages which 
may offer, and avoid the sacrifices which will occur 
should an imprudent attempt be made to reconquer 
this country, which has hitherto proved more detri- 
mental than beneficial : consequently reducing the 
Texan question to this single point — the regulation of 
the limits between the United States and Mexico^ 
which, you are aware, has been pending many years, 
and may be fixed at the Nueces, del Norte, or any 
other boundary, as may be decided on at Washington. 
Thus, disagreeable discussions, which might delay the 
definite termination of this question, or cause a differ- 
ence between two friendly nations will be avoided. 

" This, in substance, is a plain, safe, and speedy mode 
of terminating this important matter ; and, as all are 
interested, it becomes necessary that you facilitate my 
journey to Washington with the least possible delay. 

" In regard to the stipulation in the secret treaty, 
that my journey should be direct to Vera Cruz, there 
will be no surprise when the reasons why I first go to 
Washington City are known ; and, should I be sent 
the latter route, I would like that Messrs. Hockley, 
Patton, and Bee, should accompany me. Should it 



342 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

meet your approbation, you can commission tliem for 
that purpose. 

" I conclude by repeating to you what I have said, 
both verbally and in v^riting — that my name, already 
known to the world, shall not be tarnished by any 
unworthy action.' Gratitude is my characteristic : so 
you will have nothing, on your part, to repent. To 
you I owe my existence, and many favors of which I 
am deeply impressed ; and these I will endeavor to 
reciprocate as they so justly deserve. 
" I have the honor to remain 

"Your most obedient servant, 

"AisTTONio Lopez de Santa Aistna. 

"P.S. — If you have no use for General Jack- 
son's letter, I will thank you to retarn it by Major 
Patton. 

"L. DE S^^- Anita." 

Messrs. Hockley, Patton, and Bee, did accompany 
Santa Anna to Washington City, where they arrived 
on the 17th of January, 1837. 

President Jackson received the President-General 
kindly, dined him, and had several private interviews 
with him, and after nine days' entertainment sent him 
home by a ship of war, the Pioneer. 

Upon arriving in Mexico on the 20th of February, 



EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 343 

1837, Santa Anna forthwith wrote to the Minister of 
War, thus : 

" The pleasure I feel in again treading upon my 
native land, after the many outrages and tribulations 
I have endured; that pleasure, I say, was consider- 
ably diminished when I was informed that there were 
some individuals believing my disgrace was so much 
the greater because I had betrayed my country and 
compromised her independence. What ! betray an 
object so dear to my heart? I who have so often 
fought to preserve her inviolable ! Would it not be 
better that I should perish in the midst of my enemies 
than that I should be the mark of so serious and unjust 
an accusation coming from my own fellow-country- 
men ? In this case, as well as in many others, I have 
been the victim of calumny, and, in order to place my- 
self beyond the power of those charges, I should pro- 
test to your Excellency, and in the face of the entire 
world, that I obtained my liberty without subscribing 
to any conditions whatever; that either before or 
since that conjuncture I have not made -with any one, 
let him be who he may, any contract that might bring 
reproach upon the national independence or honor, or 
place in jeopardy the integrity of the territory ; that 
I accordingly could have given no guarantees what- 
ever to any individual or government relative to those 
pretended stipulations ; and hefore consenting, either 



344 EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 

willingly or through force^ to any such conditions^ I 
ivould have suffered a thousand deaths hefore subscrib- 
ing to such terms. 

" Your Excellency will be pleased to make known 
all these facts to the President ad interim., and to fe- 
licitate him on account of the peace which reigns 
throughout the republic, under the auspices of the 
new fundamental laws which the nation has enacted 
through the medium of their representatives." 

The first letter to Gen. Houston contradicts this to 
the Mexican Minister at War. 

But he says : " The pleasure I feel in again tn^eading 
upon m,y native land.''"' Was this pleasure feigned ? 
Could one so cruel feel the divine inspiration of pa- 
triotism ? Don Antonio has the benefit of a doubt, 
for the poet hath asked : 

" Breathes there the man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, my native land ! — 
Whose heart had ne'er within him Dumed, 
As home his footsteps he had turned, 
From wandering on a foreign strand ? " 

Let US hope that his early education in Popery, 
priestcraft, and bull-fighting had not entirely effaced 
the love of country from his heart, and that this self- 
styled Napoleon could possibly appreciate the senti- 
ment of the JEmjMror when he expressed the desire 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 345 

to he hurled on the hanks of the Seine^ in the midst of 
the French peoj)le whom he loved so well. 

There lives in St. Louis a beneficent, magnanimous 
old gentleman named Henry Sliaw, who has planted 
a most lovely and beautiful GARDEN for the enjoy- 
ment of the public, which he has endowed and con- 
veyed to trustees, so as to have it kept in good order 
perpetually. 

Henry Shaw's greatest delight consists in making 
others happy, while Santa Anna's seems to consist in 
making others unhappy ! 

Now, when the dark-winged angel of Death comes 
for Don Antonio and Henry Shaw, which one will 
most dread, and be best prepared to enter 

" The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveller returns " ? 

The great Julian in his dying moments said : 

" Friends and fellow-soldiers, the seasonable period 

of my departure is now arrived, and I discharge, with 

the cheerfulness of a ready debtor, the demands of 

nature. I have learned from philosophy how much 

the soul is more excellent than the body; and that 

the separation of the nobler substance should be the 

subject of joy, rather than of affliction. I have learned 

from religion that an early death has often been the 

reward of piety ; and I accept as a favor of the gods, 
15* 



346 " HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

tlie mortal stroke tliat secures me from tlie danger of 
disgracing a character, whicli has hitherto been sup- 
ported by virtue and fortitude. 

" I die without remorse, as I have lived without 
guilt. I am pleased to reflect on the innocence of my 
private life ; and I can affirm with confidence that the 
Supreme Authority, that emanation of the Divine 
Power, has been preserved in my hands pure and im- 
maculate. 

" Detesting the corrupt and destructive maxims of 
despotism, I have considered the happiness of the peo- 
ple as the end of government. Submitting my actions 
to the laws of prudence, of justice, and of moderation, 
I have trusted the event to the care of Providence." 

It will be well for the present and f ature rulers of 
Texas to remember the noble Roman's dying words, 
and in their hands preserve the supreme authority 
pure and vminaculate ! 

In the first year of President Houston's administra- 
tion, the following letter was presented to Old Sam 
(as he was and is familiarly called in Texas), by 
Charles Co7R])te de Farnese : 

'•Velasco, July 11, 1837. 

" To His ExcellenGy Sam HousTOisr : 

" Deae Sir : This will be presented to you by the 
Count Farnese. His object in visiting this republic 



mSTORT OF TEXAS. 347 

is to offer his fortune and personal influence to the 
glorious Texan canse. His views are extensive, and, 
if fully consummated, will, no doubt, be of infinite 
service to this republic. They have been fully ex- 
plained to Dr. Archer, General Grreen, and other in- 
fluential gentlemen here, all of whom think highly 
of them. The count is, no doubt, a gentleman of 
high literary attainments, and seems to have his 
heart much set on the establishment of institutions 
of learning in this country. The proposition he 
makes, of opening at once (after seeing and consult- 
ing with you) a correspondence with the court of 
Rome, for the purpose of having established in this 
republic an independent bishopric, if successful, can- 
not fail to be productive of the most beneficial 
effects. It will not only place the Catholic citizens 
of this republic in a very different attitude, but will 
induce tens of thousands of other Catholics to emi- 
grate to the country 

" Very sincerely yours, 

"John C. Williams." 

'The count then represented to the President," 
says Yoakum, that, " having heard in Europe of the 
conquest of Texas, he had abandoned his country 
(where he enjoyed a fine fortune, was allied to sev- 
eral European courts, and had the prosj)ect of a 



348 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

brilliant career), to offer liis services and fortune to 
Texas." After some preliminary remarks in re- 
lation to tlie protection given by European monarchs 
to religion, and the liuman heart and mind " wMcli 
require to be cultivated like a young plant," lie sub- 
mitted to the President his "plan," which was, to 
treat, through his means, should the President think 
him worthy, with the court of Rome : 

"1. To raise all Texas to an archbishopric. This 
step is the sure means of making peace with Mexico 
through the influence of the Roman court; it will 
break all communication with the Bishop of Monte- 
rey, under whose jurisdiction are the Catholics of 
Texas, and will remove all difficulty with other 
courts in acknowledging the independence of Texas."* 

"6. To accord gratuitously, in all the cities and 
villages of Texas, a convenient place to build a 
church, house for curate, and school. • 

" 7. In order that the archbishop, clergy, masters 
and mistresses of schools, may not become charge- 
able to government, to accord to them, without dis- 
tinction, in their respective parishes, or the nearest 
district, twelve hundred and eighty acres of land." 

"9. The churches, houses of clergy and schools 
will be built by the means of the church : conse- 
quently, the government will not have the power to 

* 2, 3, 4, and 5, details as to arclibisliopric. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 34.9 

employ them for any other purpose, without the con- 
sent of the Holy See. 

" 10. The religion Catholic Apostolic and Romaic 
will be allowed to exercise freely her functions in all 
parts of Texas. 

" 11. She will enjoy the protection of government. 

" 12. She will observe strictly the rites and canons 
RoMAisr." 

What Old Sam said to Count Farnese, the Lieuten- 
ant (Yoakum was 1st Lieutenant in Jack Hay's fa- 
mous regiment of Texas Rangers) does not tell ; but 
as he was raised up in Tennessee, had read " Fox's 
Martyrs," and had seen pictures in his boyhood " of 
the burning of Latimer and Ridley^ John Rogers 
with nine children, and one at the breast," — in the 
reign of Bloody Queen Mary, and had heard Popery 
denounced from his youth up, as having converted 
the noble Romans of the time of Cicero, Horace, Vir- 
gil and Csesar into the poor, degraded macaroni, laz- 
zaroni Italians of the present day — (may God aid 
them in their present struggle!) — it is presumable 
that, desiring the advancement, progress, and develop- 
ment of Texas, rather than its decline andfall^ he re- 
jected the magnificent offers of the Compte de 
Farnese. 

What a noble man the count must have been to 
come so far from his lazzaroni home to found institu- 



350 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

tions of Popery and superstition in Texas, in order to 
teacli the children of the heroes of San Jacinto the 
facilis descensus travelled by the Cincinnatti, the 
Fabii, the Catos and Scipios of ancient Kome, to be- 
come the Borgias, Pios, Cencis, and poor rniserahle 
beggars of modern Italy ! 

But President Houston had other things than the 
establishment of Catholicism in Texas to attend to 
after he took the helm of state into his hands. Texas 
was not only devastated and poor, but in debt a 
million and a quarter of dollars, with a large army 
and without credit. 

Five millions of dollars were voted to the govern- 
ment by the Congress, but this five millions was in 
scrip, and the scrip was hardly worth the paper it 
was written upon. Nobody would buy the scrip, so 
impressments vv^ere resorted to in order to keep things 
moving. 

Even their friends in the United States turned 
against them. " Governor McDuffie, of South Caro- 
lina," says Kennedy, "in December, 1836, sent a mes- 
sage to the Legislature of the State, disapproving of 
the Texan revolution — enforcing the obligations of 
strict neutrality — deprecating recognition — and stat- 
ing that, ' under whatever circumstances of adventure, 
speculation, honor, or infamy the insurgents of Texas 
had emigrated to that country, they had forfeited all 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 351 

claim to fraternal regard : " they having " left a land 
of freedom for a land of despotism, with their eyes 
open, deserved their destiny." Leading men in New 
York and Massachusetts coincided with Grov. McDuf- 
fie, and even the President of the United States in his 
Message to Congress On December 6th, 1836, says: 

" The hnoivn desire of the Texans to become apart 
of our system., although Us gratifioation depends upon 
the reGoncilement of various conflicting interests., 
necessarily a worlc- of time., and uncertain in itself., 
is calculated to expose our conduct to misconstruction 
in the eyes of the world. You will perceive by the 
accompanying documents that the extraordinary mis- 
sion from Mexico has been terminated, on the sole 
grounds that the obligations of this government to 
itself and Mexico, under treaty stipulations, have 
compelled me to trust a discretionary authority to a 
high officer of our army, to advance into territory 
claimed as part of Texas, if necessary to protect our 
own or the neighboring frontier from Indian depre- 
dations. In the opinion of the Mexican functionary 
who has just left us, the honor of his country will be 
wounded by American soldiers entering, with the 
most amicable avowed purposes, upon ground from 
which the followers of his government have been ex- 
pelled, and over which there is at present no certainty 
of a serious effort on its part being made to re-estab- 



352 HIBTOBY OF TEXAS. 

lish dominion. TLe departure of this minister was 
the more singular as lie was apprised that the suffi- 
ciency of the causes assigned for the advance of our 
troops by the commanding general had been seriously 
doubted by me, and that there was every reason to 
suppose that the troops of the United States — their 
commander having had time to ascertain the truth or 
falsehood of the information upon which they had 
been marched to Nacogdoches — would be either there, 
in perfect accordance with the principles admitted to 
be just in his conference with the Secretary of State, 
by the Mexican minister himself, or were already 
withdrawn, in consequence of impressive warnings 
their commanding officer had received from the De- 
partment of War. It is hoped and believed that his 
government will take a more dispassionate and just 
view of this subject, and not be disposed to construe 
a measure of justifiable precaution, made necessary 
by its known inability, in execution of the stipula- 
tions of our treaty, to act upon the frontier, into an 
encroachment upon its rights, or a stain upon its 
honor. 

"In the meantime the ancient complaints of in- 
justice, made by our citizens, are disregarded, and 
new causes of dissatisfaction have arisen, some of 
them of a character requiring prompt remonstrance 
and ample immediate redress. I trust, however, by 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 353 

tempering firmness with courtesy, and acting with 
forbearance upon every incident that has occurred, or 
that may happen, to do and obtain justice, and thus 
avoid the necessity of again bringing this subject to 
the view of Congress." 

In a subsequent part of the Message, the President 
stated, that 

" At the date of the latest intelligence from Nacog- 
doches, the troops of the United States were at that 
station, but that the officer who had succeeded Gen- 
eral Graines had recently been advised that, from the 
facts known at the seat of government, there would 
seem to be no adequate cause for any longer main- 
taining that position, and he was accordingly in- 
structed, in case the troops were not already with- 
drawn, under the discretionary powers before pos- 
sessed by him, to give the requisite orders for that 
purpose on the receipt of the instractions, unless he 
should then have in his possession such information 
as should satisfy him that the maintenance of the 
post was essential to the protection of the frontier, 
and to the due execution of treaty stipulations as ex- 
plained to him." * 

* The following are the words of the treaty on which President Jack- 
son justified the advance of General Gaines to Nacogdoches : " It is like- 
wise agreed that the two contracting parties shall, by all the means in thei? 
power, maintain peace and hannony among the seyeral Indian nations who 



354 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

Here was a death-blow to the fondly cherished idea 
of annexation, at least for a time, and the Lone Star 
Republic must work out its own salvation. 

To add to these misfortunes, Lorenzo de Zavala 
died on the 15th of November, and Stephen F. Austin 
on the 27th of December, 1836. 

Of the former Yoakum says : 

" His life had been eventful and useful. Provi- 
dence had cast his lot in a land of revolutions and of 
blood, but at all times and under all circumstances he 
had been a constant and ardent lover of liberty and 
humanity. His remains lie in a free country, and his 
name will be remembered while that freedom en- 
dures." 

The death of Mr. Austin was a national calamity 
indeed^ for he was a safe counsellor, of sterling integ- 
rity, fine intellect, and devoted to Texas. Although 
elected General by the troops it was not on the 
bloody field — 



inhabit the lands adjacent to the lines and rivers which form the boundaries 
of the two countries ; and the better to obtain this object, both parties bind 
themselves expressly to restraia, hy force^ all hostilities and incursions on 
the part of the Indian nations living in their respective boundaries ; so that 
the United States of America will not suffer their Indians to attack the 
citizens of the United Mexican States, nor the Mexican States the Indians 
residing within, their territories to commit hostilities against the citizens of 
the United States of America, nor against the Indians residing within the 
limits of those States, in any manner whatever." 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 355 

" Where the battle wreck lies thickest 
And death's brief pang is quickest ! " 

■ — it was not where tlie warrior hurls his death-bear- 
ing missiles to wound and kill his brother man — it 
was not where men bleed and die, that Mr. Austin was 
in his proper element ; but in the social circle at the 
family hearth^ or on the forurt^ where mind meets 
mind in intellectual warfare, and by the charming, 
witching words of eloquence, chains the attention, 
convinces the understandino; and enthuses the hearts 
of men with noble and generous impulse, that the 
amiable Austin was in his proper element. 

He could not ride with pleasure over a field- of 
battle strewn with the dead and dying, nor exult in 
the moment of victory gained by the death of beloved 
friends, but the appreciative laugh or applause of 
listening friends, or a spell-bound audience of his fel- 
low-citizens, would cause his heart to swell and ex- 
pand with delight. 

" Let me be 

Great, not like Caesar, stained with blood, 
But only great as I am good ! ' "^ 

Or, " Let me 

' Scatter plenty o'er a smiling land 
And read my history in a nation's eyes,' " 

was rather his idea of excellence than 

" To wade through slaughter to a throne." 



356 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

No one had a greater contempt for the office-seeker 
than he, nor appreciated more fully the great Ameri- 
can idea, that '■''office should seek men^ not men 
office:' 

Texas has erected no monument to commemorate 
the fame of Stephen F. Austin. Nor has she voted 
monuments to any one of her heroes, but has very 
appropriately immortalized them by naming her 
counties and cities in honor of them ; wherefore, so 
long as the lovely cities of Austin, Houston, Kusk, 
Sherman, McKinney, Crockett, Seguin, Bonham, and 
the beautiful counties of Milam, Lamar, Travis, 
Bowie, Fannin, Burleson, Wharton, Smith, Karnes, 
Zavala, Waller, Dimmit, Erath, Maverick, Chambers, 
Hunt and Ellis shall exist, so long will exist the fame 
of the daring men who rescued Texas from the domi- 
nation of bull-fighting, prisoner-murdering, priest-rid- 
den Mexicans. 

While the philanthropist can but sympathize with 
the unfortunate children of Montezuma for their de- 
grading lessons and early education in scenes of blood 
and priestcraft, introduced by their Spanish conquer- 
ors, which no doubt give a taste for shedding human 
blood, and have produced their unchristian habit of 
murdering their prisoners, their citizens and soldiers, 
and even their generals and em/perors, he can but re- 
joice in the great gain to the cause of civilization and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 35^ 

human progress accomplislied by tlie heroes of Texas, 
whose honored names and chivalrous deeds will be 
fondly cherished and gratefully remembered until 
time shall be no more. 

In the language of the poet : 

" Some, when they die, die all ; their mould'ring clay 
Is but an emblem of their memories ; 
The space quite closes up through which they passed ; 
But these have lived, and leave a mark behind, 
To pluck the shining age from vulgar time, 
And give it whole to late posterity." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Annexation and An ti- annexation. — Texas recognized by the United 
States. — Mission of Gen. Mermu can Hunt. — Annexation rejected by the 
United States. — Forsytli and Hunt. — ^Kennedy. 

"TTTHILE Gov. McDuffie, Mr. J. Q. Adams, Dr. 

^ ' Charming, and the Legislatures of New York, 
Ohio, Massachusetts and Vermont were opposed to 
Texas — or rather, in favor of letting Texans who had 
left a land of Freedom and gone to one of Despotism^ 
worlc out their own destiny^ there were other gentle- 
men who sympathized with their struggling kinsmen 
in their unequal contest with Mexico, and wished to 
throw over them the protecting cegis of the American 
Union. 

Foremost among these were Gen. James Hamilton, 
Senators Preston and Calhoun, and Mr. Poinsett (for- 
merly United States Minister to Mexico), of South 
Carolina, and Robert J. Walker, of Mississij)pi. 

As chairman of the Senate's Committee on Foreign 
Relations, Gen. Hamilton, in a Report touching Texan 
affairs, said : 

" The sequel of this deeply interesting drama must 
be left to the dispensations of a wise Providence, 
whom we are taught to believe orders everything for 



SIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 



359 



tlie best. There may be those who suppose that it 
will be neither the policy of the United States to 
recognize the independence of Texas nor to admit her 
into the Union. We do not desire to anticipate the 
vast considerations which enter into this subject. To 
such persons it might be said, that although both of 
these privileges might be denied, yet we cannot strike 
Texas from the map of the physical globe, nor from 
her territorial location. There she stands, as our 
neighbor, for good or for evil, touching our frontier 
at a point of intimate community with our most sen- 
sitive interests, and alluring, by her immense and 
boundless fertility of soil, a stream of emigration 
which is destined to make her a great state in our 
confederacy or a powerful separate empire." 

In support of his views he said to the Senators of 
South Carolina : 

" Would our refusal to recognize her independence, 
or admit her into the Union, in the language of the 3 
Report, 'strike her from the map of the physical 
globe ? ' Would it curse with an irreversible sterility 
the teeming fertility of her exuberant soil ? Would 
it cover with a blight the cotton plant, which in that 
favored country grows almost with the perennial 
magnificence of a tropical production ? Would our 
refusal check the current of her rivers in their jour- 
ney to the ocean, freighted with the richest staples of 



3g0 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

the finest agricultural country probably in the habit- 
able globe ? Would, in one word, our refusal to 
receive her as a member of this confederacy check 
that disastrous stream of emigration that, without a 
reflux, is steadily setting west? No, not one jot. 
Let Texas once establish her independence, and a sep- 
arate Republic, and throw open a series of free ports 
to the commerce of the world, and he would ask, 
whether the dangers of her competition would not be 
vastly augmented from the fact that, whilst her 
planters would make one-third more cotton to the 
acre than is produced on the richest Mississippi bot- 
tom, the exchanges on the commodities destined to 
purchase the staples of Texas, would come into 
that country burdened with 30 per cent, less of 
taxation ? 

" In this view the subject is scarcely less important 
and interesting to the merchant and manufacturer at 
the North. For what would become of their respec^ 
tive trades, vrith millions of untaxed British naviga- 
tion crowding the ports of Texas, and millions of 
British manufactures introduced through Texas, 
flooding the vast valley of the Mississippi? These 
momentous considerations would have, he believed, 
to be presented one day or other, and that perhaps 
not very distant, to the deliberations of the American 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 3gl 

people. He trusted that their decision would add 
fresh stability and harmony to the Union." ^' 

Mr. Poinsett, in supporting the motion, made the 
following observations : 

" Ought we to imitate the conduct of the members 
of the British Parliament, who condemned them in 
unqualified terms, while they accused this govern- 
ment of fermenting the revolution of Texas, in order 
to acquire possession of that territory ? Mr. Ward, 
who took the lead in that debate in the House of 
Commons on the 5th August last, from the circum^ 
stance of his having been the British Envoy in Mexi- 
co, asserted that the United States ' had long regarded 
Texas with covetous eyes, and that to obtain posses- 
sion of that province had been the first object of its 
policy. Now this opinion is contradicted by the fact 
that Mr. Adams might, if it had been judged expe- 
dient to do so by Mr. Monroe's advisers, hfive obtained 
j)ossession of it by treaty. There was no serious 
obstacle to his extending our boundary so as to 
embrace Texas, when he made the treaty of limits 
with Don Luis Onis. It was an error — of which he 
became afterwards fully convinced. Mr. Ward said, 
further, that he (Mr. Poinsett) had sought, during 
their mutual residence there, to acquire Texas for his 



* Columbia Telescope of December gist, 1836. 
16 



362 HISTORY OF TEXAS, 

government, and had made proposals to purcliase the 
territory for ten millions of dollars. This, too, is a 
great mistake. He did not doubt that Mr. Ward had 
been so informed ; but the intelligence he received on 
that occasion was erroneous and unfounded. The 
American Government never made any overtures to 
Mexico for the purchase of Texas through him, nor 
during his residence there. Mr. Ward insinuated that 
these negotiations were conducted through the former 
Vice-President of Texas, Don Lorenzo de Zavala, of 
whom he took occasion to speak disparagingly — 'a 
man of talents, certainly; but totally destitute of 
principle' — which simply means that he was not of 
the English party, but devotedly attached to republi- 
can principles — a devotion which he has displayed 
throughout all the trying scenes of the revolution in 
Mexico. In his youth he was immured four years in 
the dungeons of the castle of Ulloa, for having dared 
to murmur against the tyranny of Spain. Upon the 
adoption of the Constitution in that country in 1812, 
he was liberated and sent to Madrid by his country- 
men, to plead for the liberties of Americans, which he 
did fearlessly and eloquently. When the revolution 
took place that separated Mexico from the mother 
country, he returned home and placed himself in the 
first rank of those who sought to give republican in- 
stitutions to his country; and when the last change 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 363 

took place, lie indignantly returned Ms commission of 
Minister to France to Santa Anna, and retired to Ms 
farm in Texas, declaring that he had received the ap- 
jyoint/tnent from a free government., and would not 
serve a tyrant He said, in reply to Mr. Ward, that 
the United States had iinaintained a strict neuti'udity 
in the controversy between Mexico and Texas., and had 
acted ivith the most perfect good faith towards both 
parties. 

" From what lie liad seen and known of tlie policy 
of our government in tMs particular, lie thought 
South Carolina might repose upon the msdom and 
prudence of their counsels. He presumed the same 
course would be pursued towards Texas that had been 
pursued towards the States of Spanish America. 
When a government de facto existed there, capable of 
maintaining its independence, it would, he presumed, 
be recognized by this country. Such an act could not 
be regarded as a cause of war by Mexico. It had not 
so been considered by Spain ; and when we recognized 
her revolted colonies, the amicable relations between 

the two countries were not interrupted If 

the annexation of Texas to these United States should 
become afterwards a question between us, and the pro- 
posal should come from them, he hoped it would be 
entertained by this country favorably. He believed 
that the best interests of this country would be con- 



364 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

suited by tlie adoption of such a measure. If the 
time of the Senate permitted, and it were a question 
fitting to be entertained here, he thought he could 
prove conclusively, that the interests of the whole 
Union, and especially of the South, required that 
Texas, if once separated from Mexico, should be an- 
nexed to these United States. 

'"The result of the contest between Mexico and 
Texas was, as truly said in the Report, in the hands 
of Providence. He thought it too probable that the 
Texans might be driven from their homes by the over- 
whelming forces preparing to march against them, but 
the Mexicans cannot keep possession of that state — 
that government cannot maintain a large standing 
army at so great a distance from the capital. They 
would be compelled to withdraw it in a short time, 
and the Texans will reoccupy the country. To Mex- 
ico this is a perilous contest. Their retreating forces 
may be followed to the centre of their fertile fields. 
This danger is the more imminent as all the states 
north of Tamaulipas are essentially republican, and 
have submitted unwillingly to the repeal of their free 
institutions. Whatever reverses Texas is still destined 
to undergo, if that people continue firm and united, 
they must ultimately be free." 

The vote of the United States Senate on the 
acknowledgment of the independence of Texas, was 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 3g5 

taken the 1st of March, 1837. It stood 23 to 22, and 
on the next day, upon a motion to reconsider, the vote 
was 24 to 24. On the succeeding day. President 
Jackson approved the resolution of Congress, and. 
nominated Alcee Labranche as cliarge d'affaires to 
the Hepuhlic of Texas. 

Among the brave and daring spirits who left ease 
and comfort in the good old State of North Carolina, 
and came to Texas to slaughter Mexicans, and gain 
the great glory of a Lafayette or Kosciusko, was the 
celebrated Gen. Memucan Hunt, familiarly styled by 
his associates Cousin Muhe. 

Cousin Muke was one of those old-fashioned fellows 
who recognized no aristocracy but that of merit, and 
weighed men alone by the standard of virtue. He 
was as gentle as a lamb, but as brave as a lion. He 
brought with him an old rifle from North Carolina to 
Texas, the barrel of which became loose in the stock, 
but Cousin Muke tied a piece of twine or hickory bark 
round the stock and barrel to keep them together, put 
a new flint in the hammer, and when challenged one 
day for a mortal combat,'^' Cousin Muke took up this 
old flint and steel rifle, walked out on the field of 
honor, and with it — scorning all of Messrs. Walker 

* About this time duelling' was somewhat fashionable in Texas, and Gens. 
Felix Houston and Albert Sidney Johnson fought. After five rounds, Gen. 
Johnson was seriously wounded. 



36g HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

and Ely's double water-proof percussion caps, locks, 
or metallic cartridges — shot his man. 

Within a few weeks after recognition, Cousin Muke 
was introduced to the President of the United States 
by the Secretary of State, Mr. Forsyth, as Envoy Ex- 
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Ee- 
public of Texas to the United States — with the grand 
object of annexing Texas to the United States. 

Not doubting his ability to accomplish this object, 
he addressed Mr. Forsyth a long letter containing a 
history of Texas from its discovery and settlement to 
that time : its soil, climate, riches, and the reasons why 
annexation should take place — that any delay might 
defeat it, as Texas was about forming treaties with 
foreign powers. In conclusion he said : 

" The undersigned most respectfully represents to 
the Honorable the Secretary of State, that in this 
paper he does not presume to have presented all the 
inducements to the union of the two Republics. He 
has not thought it respectful to trespass upon the 
attention of the Honorable the Secretary of State, 
either by an extended detail of the resources of Texas, 
or of the mutual benefits involved in a treaty of an- 
nexation. The mineral wealth of the country, com- 
prising valuable mines of silver and lead, immense 
strata of iron and coal, and salt springs in great 
abundance, has not been properly appreciated. Nor 



HTSTOBT OF TEXAS. 3^7 

has the undersigned thought it necessary to allude to 
the immense fur trade which would be thrown into 
the lap of the enterprise of the United States by the 
annexation of Texas. The great aid and facilities 
which Texas, as an integral part of the Union, might 
render to the adventurous traders, who, in caravans, 
penetrate from Missouri to Santa Fe, and in general 
to the inland trade of the United States, with the 
countries bordering on the Pacific, have all been left 
unexplained; and the undersigned throws himself 
upon the courtesy of the Honorable the Secretary of 
State in desiring him to believe that, as he has not 
entered into any of the details of such a treaty of an- 
nexation as Texas might propose, but confined himself 
to the submission of the proposition itself, so he has 
not thought fit to discuss severally all the various 
interests involved, but merely has subjected them to 
a general, and, he trusts, a candid review. 

" In closing this paper, the undersigned appeals to 
the Honorable the Secretary of State, and referring 
him to the details of tJie history of the Texan revolu- 
tion herein set forth, asks, in the name of national 
honor, humanity, and justice, if a nation whose career 
has been marked, like that of Mexico, by a constant 
violation of the most solemn treaty obligations, by a 
series of the most licentious revolutions, by a most 
shameful prostitution of the lives, liberties, and the 



368 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

property of lier people, and, in sliort, by every act of 
perfidy and cruelty recorded in the history of barba- 
rians, has not thereby forfeited all claims to the 
respect of the governments of civilized nations ? Look 
to her continued interruptions of the peaceful citizens 
of Texas, industriously engaged in the improvements 
of their estates and in the actual aggrandizement of 
the Mexican Empire; to her demolition by military 
force of the Constitution of 1824; to her bloody war 
of extermination under President Santa Anna ; to her 
butchery of those gallant Texans who surrendered 
their arms under the sacred flag of a capitulation, in 
which their lives were guaranteed; and pronounce if 
the enormity of her misdeeds entitles her to be any 
longer considered, the undersigned will not say a 
nation of responsibility, but even humanity. The 
undersigned, however, forbears to continue this ap- 
peal, so irrelevant, and perhaps so unnecessary, to 
the due consideration of the subject under discussion. 
The world will do ample justice to the magnanim- 
ity of Texas in forbearing to visit upon the heads of 
the recreant tyrant and his captured host that retali- 
ation which their offences against the laws of nations 
and the rights of mankind so signally deserved. 

" In conclusion, the undersigned most respectfully 
begs leave to congratulate the Honorable Secretary 
of State upon the spectacle exhibited in this discus- 



HISTORY OF TEXA8. 359 

sion, and whicli is so honorable a commentary upon 
the excellence of tlie government of this country, viz. : 
a sovereign, free, and warlike people, fresh from the 
fields of their own victories and glory, seeking to sur- 
render their nationality as the price of a place among 
the United States, to become participants of the wis- 
dom of its laws and the renown of its arms." 

Mr. Forsyth answered Gen. Hunt's proposition by 
order of the President, Mr. Yan Baren, with a prompt 
decisive negative, he wrote : 

"Neither the duties nor the settled policy of the 
United States permit them to enter into an examina- 
tion of the accuracy of the historical facts related by 
General Hunt. The United States were foremost in 
acknowledging the independence of Mexico. A sense 
of duty and a reverence for consistency, however, it 
was considered, left this government no alternative, 
and it therefore led the way in recognizing Texas. A 
hope was certainly entertained that this act, and the 
motives that conduced to it, even if no other conside- 
rations were to have influence, would point out to the 
Government of Texas the pi'opriety not only of cher- 
ishing intimate and amicable relations with this 
country, but of abstaining from other connections 
abroad which might be detrimental to the United 
States. 

" So long as Texas shall remain at war while the 
18* 



370 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

United States are at peace witli lier adversary, tlie 
proposition of tlie Texan Minister Plenipotentiary 
necessarily involves tlie question of war witli that ad- 
versary. The United States are bound to Mexico by 
a treaty of amity and commerce, which will be scrupu- 
lously observed on their part, so long as it can be 
reasonably hoped that Mexico will perform her duties 
and respect our rights under it. The United States 
might justly be suspected of a disregard of the friendly 
purposes of the compact, if the overture of General 
Hunt were to be even reserved for future consideration, 
as this would imply a disposition on our part to es- 
pouse the quarrel of Texas with Mexico ; a disposi- 
tion wholly at variance with the spirit of the treaty, 
with the uniform policy and the obvious welfare of 
the United States. 

" The inducements mentioned by General Hunt for 
the United States to annex Texas to their territory, 
are duly appreciated ; but powerful and weighty as 
certainly they are, they are light when opposed in the 
scale of reason to treaty obligations and respect for 
that integrity of character by which the United States 
have sought to distinguish themselves since the estab- 
lishment of their right to claim a place in the great 
family of nations. It is presumed, however, that the 
motives by which Texas has been governed in making 
this overture, will have equal force in impelling her 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 3^]^ 

to preserve, as an independent power, tlie most liberal 
commercial relations with the United States. Sucli 
a disposition will be cheerfully met in a correspond- 
ing spirit by this government. If the answer which 
the undersigned has been directed to give to the pro- 
position of General Hunt should unfortunately work 
such a change in the sentiments of that government 
as to induce an attempt to extend commercial relations 
elsewhere upon terms prejudicial to the United 
States, this government will be consoled by a con- 
sciousness of the rectitude of its intentions, and a cer- 
tainty that although the hazard of transient losses 
may be incurred by a rigid adherence to just princi- 
ples, no lasting prosperity can be secured when they 
are disregarded." 

Mr. Forsyth's letter, of which but little is quoted, 
highly astounded Gen. Hunt. No doubt his indigna- 
tion was great. " Texas rejected ! Why, Forsyth is 
crazy ! Til write him again^ and although he is a fool 
and — yet 111 not tell him so in toords^ but, like Bill 
Ransom after losing his money with Col. Hawkins 
at seven-wp^ Til insinuated * 



* After Mr. Ransom had lost his last ten dollar bill by the turning of a 
Jack by Col. Hawkins, he arose from the table and gave vent to his chagrin 
and vexation in these memorable words : " Col. Hawkins, the position you 
occupy in society, and the respectability of your family connections, forbid 
me to say that you would cheat at cards, but, sir, allow me to say, that ytjU 



372 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

So Gen. Hunt wrote again, from whicli I take tlie 
following extracts : 

" The venerable ex-president, General Jackson, was 
so strongly impressed with a "belief, at one time dur- 
ing his administration, that the negotiation then pend- 
ing for the acquisition of Texas would be brought to 
a speedy and favorable issue, that he tendered the 
office of Governor of the Territory of Texas to the late 
Governor H. G. Burton, of North Carolina, to be en- 
tered upon so soon as the treaty of cession should be 
completed. (See a publication on the subject of Gov- 
ernor Burton's appointment.) The same principles, it 
appears to the undersigned, were involved in the ne- 
gotiation for the acquisition of Texas from Mexico, 
previously to the recognition of the independence of 
the latter by Spain, which are now presented by the 
question of the annexation of Texas to the United 
States previously to the recognition of Tier independ- 
ence by Mexico ; and had his Excellency the President 
of the United States entertained any inclination to 
negotiate a treaty for the annexation of Texas — a 
hope which had been fondly cherished, as he had ex- 
pressed a determination to carry out the measures and 
conform to the general policy of his venerable pre- 
decessor — it does appear to the undersigned, but 

can turn more Jacks thg,n any gentleman with wTwm J ever played cards in 
aU my life .' " 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 3^3 

witli distiDguislied deference to tlie Hon. Mr. For- 
syth's opinions to the contrary, that neither a sense 
of duty nor the settled policy of this government, 
during the administration of the venerable ex-presi- 
dent would have prevented an examination into the 
accuracy of the historical facts accompanying the pro- 
position. That brief compendium, which is believed 
to be correct, will show that there is as little prospect 
of the recovery of Texas by Mexico at this time as 
there was of the reconquest of Mexico by Spain at the 
time that General Jackson believed that the charge 
d'affaires (Mr. Butler) of this government had suc- 
ceeded in negotiating the acquisition of Texas. If the 
act of the annexation of Texas would involve the 
United States in a war with Mexico at this time, the 
undersigned is at a loss to perceive why a similar re- 
sult was not anticipated with Spain in the event of a 
cession of Texas by Mexico. Texas asked nothing more 
of the United States, in proposing to negotiate for her 
annexation, than tlie United States had previously 
desired of Mexico, when General Jackson was at the 
head of this government — for Mexico was then as 
much at war with Spain as Texas now is with Mex- 
ico — and it is believed that as friendly treaty and com- 
mercial relations existed between Spain and the 
United States at that time as are now maintained be- 
tween the United States and Mexico. 



374 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

" In addition to the fact that this government, 
when administered by the sage of the Hermitage, pro- 
posed the acquisition of Texas by purchase from Mex- 
ico, many years before the recognition of her inde- 
pendence by Spain, the undersigned most respectfully 
invites the attention of the Hon. Secretary of State to 
the report of the House of Representatives of the 
State of Mississippi, contained in a newspaper which 
he here"svith presents. That report, which is said to 
have been adoj)ted unanimously, alludes in strong 
terms to the subject of the right of this government 
to admit Texas into its confederacy ; and the under- 
signed refers to it thus particularly, that he may be 
sustained by high authority when he assures the Se- 
cretary of State of the United States, that, in sub- 
mitting the proposition of annexation, it was far from 
his intention to ask the Government of the United 
States to accede to a measure which Mr. Forsj^th was 
instructed to say was believed to involve unjust prin- 
ciples. The undersigned assures tlie Secretary of 
State of the United States^ that he could not hnoiving- 
ly consent to he the medium of presenting any pro- 
position ashing of the United States a disregard of 
just principles. 

" After the a surance of the Hon. Mr. Forsyth, that 
a sense of duty and a reverence for consistency left 
his government no alternative in leading the way in 



EISTOMY OF TEXAS. 375 

recognizing tlie independence of Texas, tlie under- 
signed confesses some surprise at tlie intimation of Mr 
Forsyth, that the circumstance of her having been 
first recognized by the United States should in any 
manner influence the foreign intercourse of Texas. 
However much the Grovernment of Texas may be dis- 
posed to encourage the most friendly relations with 
the Government of the United States, the undersigned 
assures the Hon. Secretary of State, that the Govern- 
ment of Texas does not consider that any particular 
foreign policy was implied or made binding upon her 
by the circumstance of her independence having been 
first recognized by the Government of the United 
States. The representatives of Texas, in their inter- 
changes with foreign powers, will not accept the re- 
cognition of her independence unless it is uncon- 
ditional in this respect. In all their negotiations and 
treaties with foreign powers, the best interests of their 
own government and people will doubtless be con- 
sulted, and must indicate the policy which they will 
be directed to adopt With even the same permanent 
policy in its commercial interchanges with the United 
States, which may exist with the most favored nation, 
the undersigned cannot guarantee for his government 
that any advantage shall accrue therefrom to the 
manufacturing interest of the United States; for it is 
understood that great interest is mainly sustained in 



376 EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

the United States by tlie protection afforded by high 
duties against the competition of similar interests in 
foreign nations, where labor and the facilities for 
manufacturing are more available, and at cheaper 
rates. Such being the case, it is apparent that, even 
should no detriment accrue to the manufacturing in- 
terest of the United States from the vicinity of Texas 
as an independent nation, certainly no advantages 
affecting that interest can be anticipated. 

" The apprehension of the Honorable Mr, Forsyth, 
that the refusal of this governrrient to negotiate for a 
treaty of annexation, thereby declining all the commer- 
cial and other advantages which would he secured hy 
that measure, may induce an attempt on the part of the 
Governinent of Texas to extend its commercial relations 
elseiohere on terms most favorable to its oion welfare 
and prosperity, is perfectly natural j but the under- 
signed assures Mr. Forsyth that such endeavors will 
not proceed from auy unkind feelings to the govern- 
ment and people of the United States ; and he v/ould 
take this occasion to reiterate the friendly disposition 
of the government and people of Texas towards the 
government and people of the United States, which 
he had the honor to communicate in his note of the 
4th of August. Should, however, the foreign com- 
mercial and other relations of the Eepublic of Texas 
necessarily become such as seriously to affect the 



mSTOBT OF TEXAS. 377 

interests of tlie United States, or any portion thereof, 
the undersio-necl conceives that it would be unreason- 
able for the government and people who had been 
f eeely proffered all she could bestow, and yet declined 
the offer, to complain of her on the ground of looking 
to her own interest primarily. Texas has generously 
offered to merge her national sovereignty in a domes- 
tic one, and to become a constituent part of this great 
confederacy. The refusal of this government to 
accept the overture must forever screen- her from the 
imputation of wilfully injuring the great interests of 
the United States, should such a result accrue from 
any commercial or other regulations which she may 
find it necessary or expedient to enter into with 
foreign nations. 

" Should it be found necessary or expedient here- 
after, for the proper promotion of the interests of her 
own citizens, to lay high duties upon the cotton-bag- 
ging so extensively manufactured in the Western 
States, and upon the pork and beef and breadstuffs 
so abundantly produced in that region, such as would 
amount to an almost total prohibition of the intro- 
duction of those articles into the country, much as 
her government and people would, regret the neces- 
sity of the adoption of such a policy, she would 
be exculpated from the slightest imputation of 
blame for taking care of her own welfare and pros- 



378 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

perity after having been refused admission into this 
Union. 

" The efforts which the government of the under- 
signed is making to open a commercial intercourse 
with Great Britain and France, it is believed, will 
succeed. Apart from the disposition of those two 
powers to avail themselves of the great advantages 
which must l-esult to every nation with which Texas 
may form intimate commercial relations, it is believed 
that they, as well as the United States, cherish a 
liberal sympathy for a people who have encountered 
the most cruel treatment at the hands of Mexico. 

" E-eason would seem to indicate that the foreign 
policy of Texas will be dissimilar to that of the 
United States. Texas is now, and it is believed will 
continue to be, an almost purely agricultural country. 
The ao-ricultural interest will claim the almost exclu- 
sive attention of the government : possibly from the 
circumstance of her climate and soil being so well 
adapted to the growth of hemp, and the great demand 
for rope and bagging in a cotton-growing country, the 
manufactures of these solitary articles may be encour- 
aged at an early period ; but with these single excep- 
tions it is not apprehended that the capital and labor 
of the country can be so proiita1>ly employed in any 
other species of industry as in the planting interest. 
On the other hand, the interests of the United States 



HISTOBY OF TEXAS. 379 

are numerous and greatly diversified ; and it is pre- 
sumed that it was found necessary to establisli sucli a 
foreign policy as would best reconcile them and re- 
dound to the advantage of each. 

" With the most rigid adherence to whatever is just 
and right, the Government of Texas will naturally 
pursue such a course of policy, foreign and domestic, 
as will best conduce to the increase of her wealth and 
population, and thereby her national power and con- 
sideration. In its intercourse abroad, it will endeavor 
to find those markets where her agricultural products, 
cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, etc., will obtain the 
highest prices, and where such articles as may be 
needed for home consumption may be procured at the 
lowest rates. If these advantages are presented in 
the commercial intercourse with the United States, 
the undersigned need not say that the warm pre- 
dilection of the government and people of Texas 
for the government and people of the United States 
would render such an intercourse as agreeable to the 
former as it would doubtless be advantageous to 
both. 

"The undersigned most respectfully assures the 
Honorable Mr. Forsyth, and through him his Ex- 
cellency the President of the United States, that 
the prompt and decisive rejection of the propo- 
sition for the annexation of Texas to the United 



380 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

States will not be imputed to an unfriendly spirit 
to the government and people of Texas." 

So Gen. Hunt failed in Ms mission, and lost all his 
expenses while in Washington, for Texas had but 
precious little money in those days. 

In April following, Mr. Jones, of Brazoria, intro- 
duced the following joint resolution into the Texas 
House of Representatives : 

" Whereas, the citizens of the Republic of Texas, at 
their election of President and other officers in the 
year 1836, expressed an almost unamimous desire to 
become annexed to the United States of North 
America ; in consequence of which expression, a pro- 
position for annexation was made, through our Minis- 
ter resident at the city of Washington, which propo- 
sition, after having been duly considered, has been 
distinctly and unconditionally refused by that govern- 
ment, and for reasons which it is impossible for time 
or circumstances to invalidate or alter ; and whereas, 
it is believed that Texas, having interests at vaiiance 
with those of a large portion of the United States, 
and having also demonstrated her ability for self-gov- 
ernment, and for successfully resisting the efforts of 
her imbecile enemy to subjugate her, and now trust- 
ing, as a wise policy dictates, to her own strength and 
resources, no longer desires such annexation : and 
whereas, it is a fact that, pending this hopeless nego- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 381 

tiation, tlie recognition of tlie independence of Texas 
by England and other powers, so essential to our wel- 
fare, is delayed or prevented ; 

" Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Eepre- 
sentatives of Texas, in Congress assembled, that his 
Excellency the President be authorized and required, so 
soon as he may think proper, to instruct our Minister 
resident at Washington respectfully to inform the Gov- 
ernment of the United States of North America, that 
the Government of Texas withdraws the proposition 
for the annexation of Texas to the said United States." 

The resolution passed the House, but failed in the 
Senate. 

The proposition of annexation was formally and 
absolutely withdi-awn by Anson Jones (Texan Minis- 
ter), in April, 1838, by order of President Houston. 

Kennedy attributes the failure of annexation at 
this time to the stupidity and — " sheer jealousy of 
Northern politicians of augmenting the power of the 
South. Not content with this distrust of the South, 
opposition to Texas had been strengthened by a vile 
appeal to passion and fanaticism, and ministers of 
the gospel had been permitted to mount the pulpit 
and fulminate denunciations against Texas and the 
interests of the South. And what was the excuse ? 
' It was necessary to keep the Union together. Texas 
would have divided the Union.' Was not the period 



382 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

of separation fearfully accelerated by making Texas a 
sovereign and independent power, with sucli an ally as 
England ? 

"The question of Texan annexation or independence 
presented an embarrassing dilemma to those who 
wished, by means of protective duties, to secure a 
monopoly of the home market for AmeriGan manu- 
factures. If the United States extended their south- 
ern wing to the Rio Grande, the anti-tariif party 
would gain a preponderance most favorable to Eng- 
land. On the other hand, if Texas were independent, 
she might force the whole American continent into 
the adoption of free trade principles, which would be 
still more conducive to British aggrandizement, as it 
would " tranquillize her restless population by con- 
stant occupation, and, by receiving a superabundance 
of raw material in exchange for her fabrics, enable 
her to undersell the world." 



CHAPTEK XIV. 

The Congress at Houston. — Message of President Houston. — Poor Con- 
dition of the Texan Treasury. — Capture of the Independence, Champion, 
and Julius Coesar, with loss of the Invincible. — Comanches Raid on 
Texan Frontier. — Van Benthuyson and Miles defeated by Comanches. 
— J. O. Rice, WUliam Ripley and Robert Beal. — The famous Fight of 
the Bowies with Indians. — Financial Condition of Texas. — Great Pros- 
perity of Galveston and Houston. — Deaf Smith's Fight with Mexicans. 
— Col. Neill and Gen. Rusk engage the Comanches and Kickapoos. — 
Mexicans of Nacogdoches in arms. — Death of Col. Wharton and 
Judge Collingsworth. 

^T^HE second session of the first Congress of the 
■^ Republic of Texas met at Houston on the 1st of 
May, 1837. In a little log cabin with two rooms only, 
one with puncheon-fioor, the other of dirt, Pres- 
ident Houston wrote his Message and held his levees. 
His Message informed the Congress that the five 
millions of dollars voted to his administration were 

" lAhe the baseless fabric of a vision ! " 

Not a dollar could be realized on that anticipated 
borrow ! 

The sale of land scrip had not succeeded, and that 
he had suspended their sale. 



384 HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 

This Congress attempted to raise a revenue by im- 
posts, direct taxes and the issue of promissory notes 
of the government, but it was not successful. 

At the next session, in November, he informed the 
Congress that the extraordinary sum of five hundred 
dollars in specie had been paid into the treasury of 
the Republic during his administration ! Not a dol- 
lar more nor less. During this session the famous 
ornithologist, Audubon, and a representative of Great 
Britain, Mr. Crawford, attended the levees of Presi- 
dent Houston in his palatial residence. 

The gallant achievements of Major Burton and his 
Jiorse inarines arrested the attention of the wily Mex- 
icans, so, in 1837, they manned and sent out the Lib- 
ertador, having sixteen eighteen-pounders and 140 
men, the Vincedor del Alamo ^ armed with six twelve- 
pounders and one eighteen-pounder with 100 men, and 
the brig-of-war Urrea. 

These vessels captured the Texan vessels Ohampion^ 
Julius Ocesar^ and Independence, and destroyed the 
favorite craft of the Texan navy, the Invincihle 
(purchased from McKinney Sf Williams), after it 
had captured the Alispa, of eighty tons. 

Wm. H. Wharton, Texas Commissioner to the 
United States, was captured on the Independence, 
taken to Matamoras and imprisoned. 

Col. J. H. Wharton took thirty Mexican prisoners to 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 355 

Matamoras to ransom his brother, but tlie gallant 
Mexicans cast Mm into prison for his temerity, 

Kesorting to bribery the Whartons corrupted (?) 
their guards and made their escape, thus making 
glad the hearts of their friends on old Caney and the 
Brazos. The Mexicans this year also incited the 
Indians to make war on the Texan settlements. 

"Every day or two, during the year 1837," says 
Yoakum, " some murdered citizen or stolen property " 
attested Indian hostility and depredation upon the 
Texan frontier. 

The head chief of the Comanches was Chiconie, a 
bold, dashing warrior, and when Major A. Le Grand, 
of the Texan army, was sent to treat with him, and 
having stated the object of his visit, Chiconie replied 
that " so long as he continued to see the gradual ap- 
proach of the whites and their habitations to the 
hunting grounds of the Comanches, so long would he 
believe to be true what the Mexicans had told him, 
viz., that the ultimate intention of the white man was 
to deprive them of their country, and so long would 
he continue to be the enemy of the white race." 

Whereupon the Texan Congress declared war 
against them, and authorized different persons to raise 
companies and attack them. 

On the 7th October, 1837, Captain L. Lynch and 
William Eastland with sixty-eight men, started from 



386 EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

Fort Prairie^ five miles below where Austin now 
stands, on tlie lookout for Indians. 

On arriving at tlie sources of Pecan Bayou and tlie 
Clear Fork of the Brazos, a jealousy sprang up be- 
tween the officers as to the right of command, when 
they partly divided, and Lieutenants Van Benthuyson 
and Miles, with sixteen men continued their Indian 
liunt^ while Capts. Lynch and Eastland with the 
remainder returned to the fort. 

Van Benthuyson, Miles & Co. soon fell in with a 
party of Keechies, attacked and defeated them, kill- 
ing two of their warriors. 

Emboldened by success, the little party pushed on 
to the head-waters of the Trinity, near " the knobs," 
called by the Indians " the stone houses /" on the 10th 
November they were surrounded and attacked by 
about 180 or 200 savage warriors. 

The little band of eighteen men took position at 
the head of a ravine, near a forest of trees, but where 
the grass was abundant and their horses could eat 
v/hile the fight lasted. 

The battle was desperate, and for hours the Texans 
kept off the Indians, Idlling their chief among others, 
when they retired from the contest, elected another 
chief and renewed the struggle. 

During the fight the Texans would pull off their 
hats, place them on the ends of their ramrods, raise 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 387 

them above the level of tlie walls of tlie ravine, and 
the Indians, mistaking the empty hats for hats with 
heads in them, wonld fire at them, sometimes putting 
as many as half a dozen balls through one hat, when 
immediately the Texans would rise, take aim and fire 
at the Indians. 

At last the wily savages resorted to the expedient 
of setting the prairie on fire, and almost in an instant 
vast volumes of flames and smoke forced the little 
band to leave their advantageous position and seek 
safety in the woodland near by, to arrive at which 
point they must necessarily charge through the In- 
dians as well as the flames. 

Having lost three men already, the remaining fif- 
teen left their horses, baggage, provisions, and dead, 
and at the word of command bounded off on their 
run for dear life. 

In the charge through the Indians and run to the 
timber, a distance of about eighty yards, seven of the 
Rangers were killed, including Lieutenant Miles, and 
three wounded ; in the engagement, ten of eighteen 
were killed and three of the survivors wounded, 
while the Indians, as they reported at a trading 
house, lost sixty-three killed and wounded. ! 

Night coming on soon after the Texans gained the 
woods, under the friendly protection of its dark man- 
tle, they retreated before the victorious savages and 



388 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

after mncli suffering and many hardsliips, going for 
two or three days without anything to eat, they 
finally struck the settlements and found rest for their 
weary limbs, and nourishing food for their empty 
stomachs, no doubt esteeming themselves fortunate in 
the possession of their scalps, and fully appreciating 
the language of the poet : 

"For lie who fights and runs away 
May live to fight another day ; 
But he who is in battle slain. 
Can never rise and fight again." 

One of these eight Hangers, J. O. Rice, verified the 
truth of this poetry, for, in 1842, only five years after- 
wards he joined the ill-fated expedition under Gen- 
eral Somerville, and was wounded and captured. 

Mr. Rice, with seven others, through the kind offices 
of H. L. Kinney, who happened to be in Mier at the 
time, and the expenditure of $500, bribed their guard 
to furnish them three guns, some ammunition and 
provisions for their flight into Texas. 

On the night of the 20th of January, 1843, having 
all things ready, they left their prison and were pilot- 
ed by an officer of the guard out of the city, and 
instructed when they crossed the river to go due 
northeast, whilst in his pursuit he would cross at 
Pilo Blanco fifteen miles above, and thus avoid them. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 339 

Becoming confused, tlie escaped wandered around 
until morning wlien they found themselves at the 
Pilo Blanco road, along which their pursuers were to 
come. 

They took to the chaparral, and, as persons who 
have lost their reckoning often do, becoming confused 
they again, after wandering around, came back to the 
same road. 

It being necessary to cross the road to Pilo Blanco, 
along which their pursuers were to travel by agree- 
ment, they were sorely puzzled until Mr. William 
Bipley, an Irishman, exclaimed: "Be the Howly 
Saint Patrick can't we jist walk across the road back- 
wards, and make the divils think we are going the 
other way ? " 

The party acted on Bipley's suggestion, and when 
the Mexicans came up a few hours afterwards, they 
took the back track, and the poor Avounded Tex an s 
were permitted to limp and hobble from the Rio 
Grande to San Antonio, subsisting alone on two mule- 
rabbits and two Mexican buzzard-s, besides what little 
they had started with. 

On one occasion Kobert Beal, who was shot through 
the right lung, fell down in the deep sandy road, gave 
up and said he could go no farther. 

The little party halted for consultation and again 
Rij^ley's wit was of service. Speaking loud enough 



390 niSTOBY OF TEXAS. 

for Beal to liear him, he said : " It will niver do to 
lave the pore mon here to die of hunger and thirst, 
and thin be ate up by wild bastes. Not at all, at all ! 
But as we can't afford to stay here and starve with 
him, we must shoot the poor fellow and put him out 
of his misery ! " 

This kind suggestion had a vivifying effect on Mr. 
Robert Beal, who immediately arose and continued 
his locomotion, and after a few more days of toil and 
suffering, arrived safely in San Antonio, no doubt per- 
fectly satisfied with the 

" Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war." 

The following graphic sketch of an Indian fight is 
from the pen of Rezin P. Bowie, brother of James, 
Bowie, the hero of Concepcion and the Alamo, who 
was also in this contest, which took place on the San 
Saba, about four years before his death : 

"Their number being so far greater than ours (164: 
to 11), it was agreed that Rezin P. Bowie should be 
sent out to talk with them, and endeavor to compro- 
mise rather than attempt a fight. He accordingly 
started, with David Buchanan in company, and 
walked up to within about forty yards of where they 
had halted, and requested them, in their own tongue, 
to send forward their chief, as he wanted to talk with 
him. Their answer was, ' How de do ? how de do ? ' 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 391 

in Englisli, and a discharge of twelve sliots at us, one 
of whicli broke Buclianan's leg. Bowie returned 
their salutation with the contents of a double-barrelled 
gun and a pistol. He then took Buchanan on his 
shoulder, and started back to the encampment. They 
then opened a heavy fire upon us, which wounded 
Buchanan in two more places, slightly, and piercing 
Bowie's hunting-shirt in several places without doing 
him any injury. When they found their shot failed to 
bring Bowie doAvn, eight Indians, on foot, took after 
him with their tomahawks, and, when close upon him, 
were discovered by his party, who rushed out with 
their rifles, and brought down four of them — the 
other four retreating back to the main body. We 
then returned to our position, and all was still for 
about five minutes. 

" We then discovered a hill to the northeast at 
the distance of sixty yards, red with Indians, who 
opened a heavy fire upon us with loud yells — their 
chief, on horseback, urging them in a loud and audible 
voice to the charge, walking his horse perfectly com- 
posed. When we first discovered him, our guns were 
all empty, with the exception of Mr. Hamm's. James 
Bowie cried out, ' Who is loaded ? ' Mr. Hamm 
answered, ' I am.' He was then told to shoot that 
Indian on horseback. He did so, and broke his leg, 
and killed his horse. We now discovered him hop- 



392 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

ping round Ms horse on one leg, witli Ms shieH on 
his arm to keep off the balls. By this time, four of 
our party, being reloaded, fired at the same instant, 
and all the balls took effect through the shield. He 
fell, and was immediately surrounded by six or eight 
of his tribe, who picked him up and bore him off. 
Several of these were shot by our party. The whole 
body then retreated back of the hill, out of sight, with 
the exception of a few Indians, who were running 
about from tree to tree, out of gunshot. 

" They now covered the hill the second time, bring- 
ing up their bowmen, who had not been in action 
before, and commenced a heavy fire with balls and 
arrows, which we returned by a well-directed aim 
with our rifles. At this instant another chief ap- 
peared on horseback, near the spot where the last one 
fell. The same question of ' Who is loaded ? ' was 
asked. The answer was, 'Nobody;' when little 
Charles, the mulatto servant, came running up with 
Buchanan's' rifie, which had not been discharged 
since he was wounded, and handed it to James 
Bowie, who instantly fired and brought him down 
from his horse. He was surrounded by six or eight 
of his tribe, as was the last, and borne off under our 
fire. 

" During the time we were engaged in defending 
ourselves from the Indians on the hill, some fifteen or 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 393 

twenty of tlie Caddo tribe liad succeeded in getting 
under tlie bank of tlie creek, in our rear, at about 
forty yards' distance, and opened a heavy fire upon us, 
which wounded Matthew Doyle, the ball entering the 
left breast and coming out at the back. As soon as 
he cried out that he was wounded, Thomas M'Caslin 
hastened to the spot where he fell, and observed, 
'■ Where is the Indian that shot Doyle ? ' He was told 
by a more experienced hand not to venture there, as, 
from the reports of their guns, they must be riflemen. 
At that instant he discovered an Indian, and, while 
in the act of raising his piece, was shot through the 
centre of the body, and expired. Robert Armstrong 
exclaimed, 'D — n the Indian that shot M'Caslin, 
where is he ? ' He was told not to venture there, as 
they must be riflemen ; but, on discovering an Indian, 
and while bringing his gun up, he was fired at, and 
part of the stock of his gun cut off, and the ball 
lodged against the barrel. During this time our ene- 
mies had formed a complete, circle round us, occuj)ying 
the points of rocks, scattering trees, and bushes. The 
firing then became general from all quarters. Finding 
our situation too much exposed among the trees, we 
were obliged to leave them, and take to the thickets. 
The first thing necessary was to dislodge the riflemen 
from under the bank of the creek, who were within 

point-blank shot. This we soon succeeded in doing, 
17* 



394 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

])y scooting tlie most of them tlirougb tlie head, as we 
had the advantage of seeing them when they could 
not see ns. 

" The road we had cut round the thicket the night 
previous gave us now an advantageous situation over 
that of our enemy, as we had a fair view of them in 
the prairie, while we were completely hid. We 
baffled their shots by moving six or eight feet the 
moment we 'had fired, as their only mark was the 
smoke of our guns. They would put twenty balls 
within the size of a pocket-handkerchief, where they 
had seen the smoke. In this manner we fought 
them two hours, and had one man wounded — James 
Corriell — who was shot through the arm, and the 
ball lodged in the side, first cutting away a small 
bush, which prevented it from penetrating deeper 
than the size of it. 

"They now discovered that we were not to be dis- 
lodged from the thicket, and the uncertainty of kill- 
ing us at random ; they suifering very much fi-om the 
fire of our rifles, which brought half a dozen down at 
every round. They now determined to resort to stra- 
tagem, by putting fire to the dry grass in the prairie, 
for the double purpose of routing us from our posi- 
tion, and, under cover of the smoke, to carry away 
their dead and wounded, which lay near us. The 
wind was now blowing from the west, and they 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS, 395 

placed the fire in tliat quarter, wliere it burned down 
all tlie grass to the creek, and then bore off to the 
right and left, leaving around our position a space of 
about five acres untouched by the fire. Under cover 
of this smoke they succeeded in carrying off a por- 
tion of their dead and wounded. In the meantime, 
our party was engaged in scraping away the dry 
grass and leaves from our wounded men and bag- 
gage, to prevent the fire from passing over them ; and 
likewise in piling up rocks and bushes to answer the 
purpose of a breastwork. They now discovered they 
had failed in routing us by the fire, as they had 
anticipated. They then reoccupied the points of 
rocks and trees in the prairie, and commenced another 
attack. The firing continued for some time, when 
the wind suddenly shifted to the north, and blew 
very hard. 

" We now discovered our dangerous situation, 
should the Indians succeed in putting fire to the small 
spot which we occupied, and kept a strict watch all 
around. The two servant-boys were employed in 
scraping away dry grass and leaves fi^om around the 
baggage, and pulling up rocks and placing them 
around the wounded men. The point from which the 
wind now blew being favorable to fire our position, 
one of the Indians succeeded in crawling down the 
creek, and putting fire to the grass that had not been 



396 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

burnt ; but, before lie could retreat back to Ms pa-rty, 
lie was killed by Robert Armstrong. 

" At tkis time we saw no hopes of escape, as tlie 
fire was coming down rapidly before the wind, flam- 
ing ten feet liigb, and directly for the spot we occu- 
pied. Wbat was to be done ? We mast either be 
burnt up alive, or driven into the prairie among the 
savages. This encouraged the Indians ; and, to make 
it more awful, their shouts and yells rent the air — 
they, at the same time, firing upon us about twenty 
shots a minute. As soon as the smoke hid us from 
their view, we collected together and held a consul- 
tation as to what was best to be done. Our first im- 
pression was, that they might charge on us under 
cover of the smoke, as we could make but one effec- 
tual fire : the sparks were flying about so thickly that 
no man could open his powder-horn without running 
the risk of being blown up. However, we finally 
came to a determination, had they charged us, to give 
them one fire, place our backs together, draw our 
knives, and fight them as long as any one of us was 
left alive. The next question was, should they not 
charge us, and we retain our position, we must be 
burnt up. It was then decided that each man should 
take care of himself as well as he could until the fire 
arrived at the ring around our baggage and wounded 
men, and there it should be smothered with buffalo- 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. ^ S9T 

robes, bear-skins, deer-skins, and blankets ; which, after 
a great deal of exertion, we succeeded in doing. 

" Our thicket being so much burnt and scorched 
that it ajfforded little or no shelter, we all got into 
the ring that was made around our wounded men 
and baggage, and commenced building our breastwork 
higher, with the loose rocks from the inside, and dirt 
dug up with our knives and sticks. During this last fire 
the Indians had succeeded in removing all their killed 
and wounded which lay near us. It was now sun- 
down, and we had been warmly engaged with the 
Indians since sunrise ; and they, seeing us still alive 
and ready for fight, drew off at a distance of three 
hundred yards, and encamped for the night." 

No other attack was made upon the little party 
which remained on the field of battle eight days, 
when the Indians, who were Caddoes and Tehuacanas, 
having retired, .they saddled up and returned to the 
settlements, with a loss of one man killed, three 
wounded, and five horses killed and three wounded, 
while the Indian loss, as reported to the Comanches, 
was eighty-two killed and wounded. 

During the administration of President Houston, 
which extended from Oct. 22dj 1836, to Dec. 9th, 
1838, crops were good and immigration and capital 
flowed into the country. Gralveston and Houston 
grew amazingly, trade and commerce increased, and 



398 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

tlie gold and silver received for the cotton alone 
amounted to millions of dollars. This, with the 
money brought in by immigrants (which was esti- 
mated at about $1,000 per head), afforded something 
of a circulating medium, and when the cash notes, pay- 
able in cows and calves, were added to these, the people 
got on finely, and prospered much more than they ever 
did in the same period under Mexican Government. 

Galveston, in 1836, hardly received into its harbor 
one vessel a month. In 1838, says Yoakum, " vessels 
were arriving daily, and the harbor presented the ap- 
pearance of an Atlantic port. The merchants who 
had previously confined their trade to New Orleans 
were now extending their business to the Eastern 
cities.* With the demand from the interior grew up 
the traffic between Galveston and Houston. This 
trade was carried on by four steamboats ; and the 
growth of the last-named town was equally rapid. 
For the first quarter of 1838, the imports at Galveston 
were over a quarter of a million, and the duties about 
$51,000." 

The Treasurer's report showed a net revenue from 
imports, for the year ending September, 1838, of 

* ' ' Telegraph, Februaxy 17, 1838. A writer in that paper of June, 16, 1838, 
says that, twelve months previous to that time, there was but one building 
there, but at the time he wrote there were fifty or sixty elegant buildings, 
and fifteen or twenty vessels in the harbor." 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 399 

$278,000; a circulation of $684,000 of promissory 
notes ; a funded debt of $427,000 ; unpaid audited 
claims, $775,000 — exhibiting an indebtedness of 
$1,886,000. However, as it is unreasonable to sup- 
pose, as Lieut. Yoakum does, that the $278,000 was 
applied to the part payment of the public debt in- 
stead of to the government expenses, the debt of 
Texas at this time, September, 1838, was $2,164,000. 

On the 16th of March, 1837, Deaf Smith, with 
twenty-one Rangers, was attacked five miles east of 
Laredo, on the Chancon, by forty Mexican cavalrymen, 
who, after an engagerdent of forty-five minutes, retired 
with a loss of ten killed and as many wounded. Col. 
J. N. Seguin and Captain Rodriguez, with companies 
of Mexican Texans, ranged the country between 
Matamoras and San Antonio. On the 25th of Febru- 
ary, 1837, Col. Seguin, by order of his commander-in- 
chief, collected the ashes of the defenders of the Ala- 
mo under Travis, whose bodies had been burned by 
Santa Anna, and having placed them in a neat black 
coffin, buried them with the honors of war. 

Col. Neill, in a bloody battle with the Comanches, 
on the 25th of October, L838, at Jose Maria (Fort 
Graham), gained great eclat for himself and his com- 
mand. The Indians, leaving many of their warriors 
dead, retired from the contest. 

On the 16th of October, 1838, Gen. Rusk, at Kicka- 



400 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

poo Town, near Fort Houston, on tlie Trinity, with. 200 
hastily levied men, defeated a large body of Indians, 
who fled, leaving eleven warriors dead on the field. 

In August, 1838, the Mexican residents of Na- 
cogdoches took up arms and concentrated on the 
Angelina, to the number of 150. President Houston 
issued a proclamation requiring them to disperse. 

To this pi'oclamation their leaders answered in the 
following letter : , 

" The citizens of Nacogdoches, being tired of un- 
just treatment, and of the usurpation of their rights, 
cannot do less than state that they are embodied, 
with arms in their hands, to sustain those rights and 
those of the nation to which they belong. They are 
ready to shed the last drop of their blood ; and de- 
clare, as they have heretofore done, that they do not 
acknowledge the existing laws, through which . they 
are offered guarantees (by the proclamation) for their 
lives and proj)erties. They only ask that you will 
not molest their families, promising in good faith to 
do the same in regard to yours. 

" Vicente Cokdoya, A. Corda, 

"Nat. NorriS; C. Morales, 

"J. Arriola, Joshua Robertson, 



"J. Vicente Micheli, Juan Jose Rodriques, 
"J. Santos Coy, and others. 



''Augusts, 1838." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS, 401 

Notwithstanding these brave words, on the ap- 
proach of Gen. Kusk with troops, they fled and 
scattered. 

Subsequent events wdll show that they were in- 
cited to this course by Mexican emissaries. 

In 1838, Texas mourned the untimely death of " the 
Tceenest Made of San Jacinto^'' Col. John A. Whar- 
ton, and the heroic captor of Goliad and first Chief- 
Justice of Texas, James Collingsworth. 

Although their loss wa? a public calamity, we 
know that 

" In the midst of life we are in death." 

Yet in that of these two distinguished Texans, we 
can rejoice that while 

" Cowards die many times, 
These lieroes n&oer tasted death but once I ** 



CHAPTER XV. 

Lamar and Burnet inaugurated President and Vice-President. — Extracts 
from Lamar's Inaugural Address. — His Indian Policy. — Expulsion of 
the Cherokees from Texas, and Death of their chief, Bolles. — Admiral 
Baudin takes Vera Cruz and visits Texas. — Treaty with France. — 
Texas' Minister to Mexico rejected. — "War with the Comanches. — Death 
of Mrs. Coleman, her son, Jacob Burleson, and Edward Blakey. — Mrs. 
Blakey. — The Navy in 1839. — Austin selected as the Capital — Sur- 
rounding Country. 

rriHE September election resulted in the choice of 
-'- Vice-President Lamar for President, and D. Gr. 
Burnet, the ex-provisional President, for Vice-Presi- 
dent, who were inaugurated at Houston the 9th of 
December, 1838. 

The Houston Telegraphy of the 12th of December, 
1838, says of President Lamar's inaugural address: 

" It was received with general approbation. It 
was pleasing to notice the remarkable degree of con- 
fidence and esteem that was everywhere manifested 
toward President Lamar. He is almost unanimously 
regarded as the pride and ornament of his country ; 
and from his administration the most fortunate re- 
sults are expected." 

"The character of my administration," he said, 



EI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 4.03 

"may be anticipated in tlie domestic nature of our 
government and peaceful habits of tbe people. 
Looking upon agriculture, commerce, and the useful 
arts as the true basis of all national strength and 
glory, it will be my leading policy to awaken into 
vigorous activity the wealth, talent, and enterprise of 
the country ; and, at the same time, to lay the foun- 
dation of those higher institutions for moral and men- 
tal culture, without which no government, on demo- 
cratic principles, can prosper, nor the people long pre- 
serve their liberties. In the management of our 
foreign intercourse, I would recommend that we deal 
justly with all nations, aggressively to none; pre- 
serve friendly and amicable relations with such as 
may be disposed to reciprocate the policy, and, avoid- 
ing all protracted and perplexing negotiations, court 
free and unrestricted commerce wherever it may be 
the interest of our people to carry the national flag. 
Preferring peace, but not averse from war, I shall be 
ever ready to adjust all differences with our enemies 
by friendly discussion and arrangement, and at the 
same time be equally prompt to adopt either offensive 
or defensive operations, as their disposition and our 
own safety may render necessary." 

Speaking of annexation, he said : 

" Notwithstanding the almost undivided voice of 
my fellow-citizens at one time in favor of the measure, 



404 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

and notwithstanding the decision of the National 
Congress at its last session, inhibiting the chief 
magistrate from withdramng the proposition of an- 
nexation to the United States, from the further con- 
sideration of that government, I have never been able 
myself to perceive the policy of the desired connec- 
tion, or discover in it any advantage, either civil, po- 
litical, or commercial, which could possibly result to 
Texas. But, on the contrary, a long train of conse- 
quences, of the most appalling character and magni- 
tude, have never failed to present themselves when- 
ever I have entertained the subject, and forced upon 
my mind the unwelcome conviction that the step 
once taken would produce a lasting regret, and ulti- 
mately prove as disastrous to our liberty and hopes 
as the triumphant sword of the enemy. And I say 
this from no irreverence to the character and institu- 
tions of my native country — whose welfare I have 
erer desired, and do still desire above my individual 
happiness — but a deep and abiding gratitude to the 
people of Texas, as well as a fervent devotion to 
those sacred principles of government whose defence 
invited me to this country, compel me to say, that^ 
hoivever st/rong may he my attachment to the parent 
land^ the land of my adoption Tnust cla>im my highest 
allegiance and affection^ 

After referring to uncongenial communities on 



EmTOBY OF TEXAS. 405 

account of slavery, to free trade, and to tlie tliraldom 
of tariff restrictions, lie said : 

" When I reflect upon these vast and momentous con- 
sequences, so fatal to liberty on the one hand, and so 
fraught with happiness and glory on the other, / can- 
not regard the annexation of Texas to the. American 
Union in any other light than as the grave of all 
her hopes of happiness and greatness ; and if, con- 
trary to the present aspect of affairs, the amalgama- 
tion shall ever hereafter take place, I shall feel that 
the blood of our martyred heroes had been shed in 
vain — that we had riven the chains of Mexican des- 
potism only to fetter our country with indissoluble 
bonds, and that a young republic just rising into 
high distinction among the nations of the earth had 
been swallowed up and lost, like a proud bark in 
a devouring vortex. 

"We have already laid the groundwork success- - 
fully and well, and it is only necessary now, that 
we pay proper attention to the strength and sym- 
metry of the supers tructui'e. As in the natural 
sciences, discoveries are daily being made, so in the 
art of good government, the great teacher, Time, is 
continually suggesting new and important changes, 
which, as a wise people, we should be ever ready 
advisedly to adopt, undeterred by the di-ead of inno- 
vation; and with conscious rectitude for our guide, 



406 mSTOBY OF TEXAS. 

move boldly onward in the rapid march of improve- 
ment, and keep pace with the progress of successful 
experiment. The American Constitution is certainly 
the highest eifort of political wisdom, and approaches 
more nearly to perfection than any other social com- 
pact for the government of man ; yet a fair trial of 
fifty years has detected in that sacred chart many 
serious and alarming errors, which if we will bat 
wisely avoid, at the same time adopting its favorable 
features, and availing ourselves of all the lights of 
modern experience, we shall soon be able to devise 
and perfect a system of our own which shall surpass 
its model as far as that has excelled all others. To 
achieve this desirable end, we must turn to the great 
volume of History that lies open before us, and profit 
by the lessons it teaches. We may gather from its 
faithful records, not only a knowledge of what has 
been tested by other nations, and found to be practi- 
cally beneficial or pernicious ; but we may be taught 
the more solemn and important truth, that the insta- 
bility of governments has not resulted from anything 
inherent in the nature of human institutions to flourish 
and decay, like the vegetable kingdom, but from the 
fact that all, with the exception of the American Con- 
stitution, have been the result of chance, vice, and 
rapacity, instead of being fashioned by reflection, and 
based upon the solid grounds of private integrity and 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 4q^ 

public morals. Tlie principles of virtue and justice 
are unchangeable and indestructible, and the govern- 
ment which shall be reared upon the one, and admin- 
istered upon the other, cannot fail to be an eternal 
bulwark to the rights of man." 

In another part of his Message he spoke of the 
border or agricultural Indians, of Eastern Texas, and 
denounced them as intruders and disturbers of the 
public peace. 

Although the Cherokees, under Bolles, had settled 
on the Neches, a few miles north of Nacogdoches, in 
1822, with the permission of the Mexicans and a 
promise of uninterrupted possession, which had been 
guaranteed to them by the Constjltatio]^ and the 
treaty made by Houston and Forbes in 1836, yet they 
were intruders, and should be removed. 

Depredations and murders were frequent on the 
fi-ontier, and when accused of doing them, the Chero- 
kees laid the blame upon " the wild Indians! " 

In order to guard the frontier as well as watch 
the Cherokees, Major Walters with two compa- 
nies of troops were ordered to occupy the Neches 
Saline^ which the Cherokees claimed as belonging to 
them, 

Bolles notified Major Walters that the Cherokees 
would resist this occupation hy force and arms. 
Major Walters reported this fact to the Secretary 



408 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

of War in November, 1839, but did not enter tlie ter- 
ritory of the Cherokees. 

JS'ow, before this time, Manuel Flores, an agent of 
the Mexican Government, with some twenty -five men, 
passed between Seguin and San Antonio, where they 
murdered and robbed the defenceless, but were after- 
wards pursued, overtaken, and entirely defeated by 
Lieut. Jas. O. Rice on the San Gabriel fork of Little 
Kiver, about fifteen miles from Austin. Rice cap- 
tured 300 lbs. of powder, a like quantity of shot, 
balls, and bar-lead, and more than a hundred 
mules and horses. Flores was killed, and on his per- 
son were found papers and letters showing the grand 
strategy of the Mexican policy of arousing and incit- 
ing all the border Indians to aid them in their war 
with Texas. Flores had messages from General 
Canalizo, the successor of Filisola at Matamoras, to 
the chiefs of the Caddoes, Seminoles, Biloxies, Chero- 
kees, Kickapoos, Brazos, Tehuacanas, and perhaps 
others, promising them the lands on which they had 
settled, and assuring them that they need " expect 
nothing from those greedy adventurers for land, who 
wish even to deprive the Indians of the sun that 
warms and vivifies them, and who would not cease to 
injure them while the grass grows and water runs." 

By concert of action at the same time that the 
Mexican army marched into San Antonio, the Indians 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 409 

were to liglit up tlie whole frontier with the flames of 
Texan dwellings and cause the very air to resound 
with the cries of their women and children. 

Whatever title the Cherokees had to their lands, 
and without doubt it was not far from a perfect one, 
they forfeited it by entering into the war with Mex- 
ico against Texas. 

So upon receiving the notification of Bolles, through 
Major Walters, the Secretary of War, Gren. A. S. 
Johnston ordered Gen. Ed. Burleson with 400 men 
from the Colorado, Col. Landrum's reg-iment from 
Eastern Texas, and the Nacogdoches regiment under 
Gen. Rusk, to march into the Cherokee nation, and 
the entire force to act under the command of Gen. K. 
H. Douglas. 

Commissioners preceded the troops and met the 
Indians in council, whom they promised to pay for 
their invprovemeiits^ but required to surrender their 
gun-locks, and retire to the Cherokee nation of their 
brethren north of Ked River, which the Indians 
refused to do, whereupon Gen. Douglas and troops 
attacked the poor Indians, and after two engagements, 
on the 15th and 16th of July, 1839, wherein t'le In- 
dians were defeated with a loss of about 100 warriors, 
including their chief, Bolles (or Bowles — like Texan, 
Texian and Texas — use justifies either), while the 

whites lost eight killed and thirty wounded, drove 

18 



410 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

tliem out of the country, burned tlieir villages and 
made desolate tlieir green fields. 

In Ms report Gen. Douglas says : 

"The Cherokees, Delawares, Shawnees, Caddoes, 
Kickapoos, Biloxies, Creeks, OucMes, Muskogees, and 
some Seminoles, had established during the past 
spring and summer many villages, and cleared and 
planted extensive fields of corn, beans, peas, etc., pre- 
paring evidently for an efiicient co-operation with 
the Mexicans in a war with this country." 

In speaking of the territory of the Cherokees 
through which he marched, he says : " In point of rich- 
ness of soil, and the beauty of situation, water, and 
productions, it would vie with the best portions of 
Texas." 

This expulsion of the Indians from Texas was con- 
trary to the advice and wishes of Gen. Houston, who 
spoke of it as an outrage, and in violation of treaty 
obligations and the public faith. 

After a pursuit of ten days, the troops were 
marched back to the settlements, when they were 
disbanded and returned to their homes. 

The Cherokees, having no home but the wilderness, 
thenceforth fed on wild game and revenge. "For 
eighteen months afterward," says Major John Worth- 
am, a worthy officer in those engagements, " the In- 
dians came back in small parties, and committed fear- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 4X1 

ful depredations upon tlie lives and property of tlie 
people on the frontier." 

Dui'ing the early part of President Lamar's admin- 
istration, the French, through Admiral Baudin, kept the 
Mexicans busy at home by blockading their ports. 

On the 27th of November, 1838, Admiral Baudin, 
failing to bring them to terms, notified Gen. liincon, the 
commandant of the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, that 
unless satisfaction vras immediately given for Mexican 
injuries to France that he should commence hostilities. 

The commandant declining to give the desired sat- 
isfaction, the Admiral bombarded, and after an en 
gagement of four hours took San Juan d'Ulloa, killing 
and wounding about 600 Mexicans. In March, 1839, 
Gen. Santa Anna, after attempting to drive the 
French from Vera Ci'u« and losing a leg for his pains, 
concluded a treaty with France, which being shortly 
afterwards ratified by Mexico, the Admiral left Mex- 
ico, and on his way home visited Galveston, where 
he was received and entertained with distinguished 
consideration as a most welcome guest of the city. 

According to Kennedy : " An address of welcome, 
accompanied by the freedom of the city, was ]3resent- 
ed by the mayor and aldermen of Galveston to Ad- 
miral Baudin, who, in acknowledging the compliment, 
expressed himself gratified to find that what he had 
done in Mexico had proved beneficial to so just a 



412 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

cause as that of tlie Texan people. He hoped it 
would prove beneficial to the several nations who, 
either as friends or foes, had to deal with Mexico. 
Nothing could be more agreeable to his feelings, he 
said, than to be considered one of a community like 
theirs, whose industry and energy he so much admired. 
He assured them that he would greatly prefer being 
the humblest member of a well-regulated and thriving 
community like that of Galveston, than to move in 
the sphere of wealth and power in a corrupt and de- 
caying society." 

The friendship thus commenced between France 
and Texas was followed, on the 25th of September, 
1839 (the same year), by a treaty of amity, naviga- 
tion, and commerce, signed on the part of Texas by 
J. Pinckney Henderson, and on that of France by 
Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia and President of 
the Council. 

Having signed the treaty, the Marshal said : '■''I am 
proud to have acted as the Euroj^ean godfather of 
Texas!'' 

Great Britain followed on Nov. 16th, 1840, and 
thus enabled Col. Ashbel Smith to gain the rep- 
utation of a most skilful and consummate diplomat- 
ist while representing Texas at the court of St. James. 

Some little trade having sprung up between the 
Mexicans of San Antonio, the Nueces and the Rio 



HIS TOST OF TEXAS. 413 

Grande, President Lamar issued a proclamation for 
its encouragement, stating tliat Mexican goods migM 
be carried over tlie Eio Grrande into Texas free from 
Mexico, provided that those from Texas were permit- 
ted to pass into Mexico free from molestation. 

In March, 1839, he appointed Barnard E. Bee Min- 
ister to Mexico, who arriving on the Mexican coast, 
notified the authorities of the country of his mission, 
but not receiving a favorable answer he returned. 

The Vera Cruz Censor thus reflected upon Tex- 
ans and their minister when he was off Sacrificios : 
" We do not know Avhich most to admire, the audacity 
of those brigands in sending us their peddler to ask us 
to allow the peaceable possession of their robbery, or 
the answer the commandant-general gave to the indi- 
vidual who apprised him of the arrival of this quix- 
otic ambassador. From the tenor of the reply, it 
appears that, if he lands, he will be accommodated 
with lodgings at the prison. Nevertheless, the 
Supreme Government will designate what ought defi- 
nitely to be done. The commandant says he is not 
aware of the existence, of a nation called the ' Bepublic 
of Texas ; ' but only of a horde of adventurers, in 
rebellion against the laws of the government of the 
republic." 

On the 22d of February, 1839, CoL John 
H. Moore, W. P. Hardeman, Flacco, Castro and 



414 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

others, aggregating sixty-five whites and forty-one 
Lipans, mostly from La Grange and Bastrop, at- 
tacked the Comanches in their camp on Wallace's 
Creek, seven miles from San Saba, and completely 
surprised them, but failing to push their advantage, 
they lost their horses and marched home on foot, with 
the loss of one man accidentally killed and seven 
wounded. 

The early history of Texas and a life on the fron- 
tier may be exemplified by the following incidents, 
the truth of which many living witnesses about Aus- 
tin can prove : 

Early in the spring of 1839, when the trees were 
covered with green leaves, afid the earth with grass 
and variegated flowers, which perfumed the air with 
their fragrance ; when the forest resounded with the 
" native wood-notes wild " of feathered songsters, and 
everything alive seemed to rejoice in existence, a 
band of 500 Indians attacked the settlements near 
Austin, just located in the hunting-ground of the 
Comanches. 

They first attacked, about 10 o'clock a.m., the house 
of Mrs. Coleman, near the Colorado River, sixteen miles 
below Austin. She was in the garden at the time 
with her little son Thomas, aged about seven years, 
and on the approach of the savages she called her 
little boy and ran into the house. Mrs. Coleman, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 41 5 

outrunning her son, arrived at tlie house first, when 
looking round for him, an Indian pierced her through 
the neck with an arrow ; she then entered her house, 
and assisted another son, thii'teen years old, in barring 
the door. 

There were also in the house her two daughters, 
about nine and eleven years old ; and an infant son, 
who took refugee under the bed. 

After ban-ing the door, Mrs. Coleman, with her 
maternal instinct of defending her young ones, seized 
a rifle, and seating herself in a chair, with the weapon 
on her knees, drew the deadly arroAv from her neck, 
and almost immediately thereafter fell from the chair 
and expired, covering the floor with her blood. 

The boy seized the gun, and as the Indians ap- 
proached, first shot their chief, who fell dead on the 
door-steps, and then reloading, fii*ed twice more, kill- 
ing another Indian and wounding a third, when one 
of the savages thrust his spear thi'ough a hole in the 
side of the house, and pierced the brave boy through 
the body. 

He fell near the bed where his sisters and brother 
lay concealed, when the eldest took his head in her 
lap ; while bleeding to death he said to the poor little 
orphans : 

" I vn)l not groan to let them know I am wound- 
ed." Then, with his expiring breath he said to them : 



416 HISTOItT OF TEXAS. 

" Father is dead ! Mother is dead ! and I am dying ! 
but something tells me that God will protect you ! " 

The Indians then broke open the door, but hear- 
ing voices under the bed, and fearing more deadly 
bullets, after piercing the dead bodies with their 
spears, by thrusting them through the door, retired, 
taking with them little Thomas, but leaving the other 
three defenceless children terribly frightened, but un- 
harmed. 

A few hours after, when relief came, they crawled 
from their place of concealment, and in giving their 
dear mother a farewell kiss, wet their clothes in her 
blood. 

The Indians next attacked Dr. Joe Robertson's 
residence, about 350 yards from Mrs. Coleman's, and 
captured all but one of his negroes, but the Doctor 
was fortunately on a visit with his family, and thus 
escaped. 

After robbing the premises, they next went to the 
place known afterwards as Well's Fort, where the 
three families of Mrs. Wells, John Walters, and Gr. 
W. Davis resided, but just before arriving at the 
houses, sixteen frontiersmen deployed in the front 
and stopped them, but retired before the Indians, 
taking the three families mounted behind them to 
Fort Wilbarger. 

The Indians were on foot, and turning ofE from 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 4^7 

the last place attacked, to Wilbarger Creek, camped 
for the night, and buried their dead, while the fron- 
tiersmen divided, a few remaining to watch the In- 
dians, and the rest scattering as couriers over the 
country to raise men to fight them. By daylight 
eighty men had assembled at Wilbarger's, and Gen. 
Ed. Burleson, assuming command, marched to meet 
the Indians, leaving a detail of five men to guard the 
women and children. 

Gen. Burleson came w^ with the Indians about one 
o'clock in the open prairie near Brushy Creek, about 
twenty miles northeast of Austin, when, dividing his 
men into two parties, one of which Capt. James Rogers 
led, and he the other, they charged the Indians, Avho 
took jiosition in the bend of a ravine covered with 
scrubby elm and cactus. 

The Indians at first retired before the galling fire of 
Burleson's men, but recovering, they charged and forced 
Burleson and his party back over the same ground. 
The contest lasted from one o'clock till night, when the 
Indians retired from the field of battle, beating their 
drums, rattling their shields, and singing their war 
songs, carrying with them their dead and wounded, 
supposed to be about eighty warriors. 

Burleson lost four killed, viz., Jacob, his brother, 

Kev. James Gilleland, John Walters, Edward Blakey, 

and several wounded. 
IS* 



418 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Jacob Burleson was killed in front, and Ms body 
fell into tiie temporary possession of the Indians, who 
cut off his hands, scalped him and cut out his heart, 
which, they took off with them. 

Wearied and exhausted from marching, fasting, 
and fighting, Burleson returned to Fort Wilbarger 
the next day after the battle, bearing the bodies of 
his dead, when a more painful scene was never wit- 
nessed ; the bereaved wife wept for her lost husband, 
the mother for her only son, and brothers and sisters 
for their brothers. 

One incident occurred, which equals or surpasses 
anything of the kind recorded in Grecian or Boman 
history. 

On arriving at the fort, the bodies of the dead 
were laid out, preparatory to their funeral obsequies, 
in a room by themselves. 

Mrs. Blakey, on starting into the room to take a 
last look at her son, was stopped and informed that he 
was shot in the face, and so mangled and disfigured 
that the sight would be so horrid and painful that she 
must not go in ! 

She claimed and demanded her right as mother to 
take a last look at her son. It was granted, and go- 
ing into the room she kneeled down by his dead 
body, wiped the blood and brains ooziug out from off 
his forehead, kissed him, and for a moment rested her 



EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 419 

head upon his manly breast, and then rising, pale and 
calm, she exclaimed with tearless dignity: "His 
father and brother died in defence of their country, 
now he is dead — my only remaining protector ! But 
if I had a thousand sons, and my country needed them, 
I would cheerfully give them up." 

Grod grant this mother and son the ineffable joys of 
paradise, and inspire all Texans with the same tran- 
scendent virtue and patriotic devotion ! 

In 1839, the Texan navy was increased by the addi- 
tion of the steamship of war Zavala, the schooners 
San Antonio, San Jacinto, and Sum Bernard, and the 
brig Colorado, which, with the Charleston and Poto- 
mac, composed the navy of Texas, and cost the repub- 
lic about $800,000 in government bonds. 

On the 14th January, 1839, the Congress of Texas 
appointed Messrs. A. C. Horton, L. P. Cook, Wm. Meni- 
fee, J. Campbell, and the distinguished major of the 
HoKSE Marines, I. W. Burton, Commissioners to se- 
lect a site for the capital of the republic, who made 
choice of the present location. 

Judge Edwin Waller, in whose honor Waller Coun- 
ty was named, surveyed and laid off the city into lots, 
selected sites for public buildings and erected them. 

In selecting the site for the capitol, he was forci])ly 
struck with the very remarkable resemblance between 
the landscape south of Capitol Hill in Austin and 



420 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

that in tlie same direction from the capitol in Wasli 
ins^ton, D. C. 

Standing on top of Capitol Hill in Austin, and look- 
ing down Congress Avenue, lie beheld the Colorado 
Kiver and Heights, with the surrrounding scenery so 
strangely similar to Pennsylvania Avenue, the Poto- 
mac, Arlington Heights and the adjacent country, that, 
smitten with the singular coincidence, he thereupon 
instantly thrust his Jacob staff into the green sward, 
and (it is said) joyfully exclaimed, not in the famous 
word of the Indian chief on selecting the site of his 
camp, Alabama! but in the ever-memorable language 
of the Grecian sage : Eureka. 

It has been said in praise of Texans that after their 
losses at the Alamo and Goliad, when the glorious vic- 
tory of San Jacinto made them a free people, that 
they located the capital of their young republic on 
their extreme frontier amid the war-paths of the In- 
dians, with the daring resolution of extending their 
settlements to and around it. That, imitating the 
Douglas when he threw the heart of Bruce in the 
midst of the Saracens towards the Holy Land, whither 
he had promised to take it, but with better success 
than the Scottish chief, they threw out the ban- 
ner of the Lone Star beyond the outer wall of civili- 
zation among the hills overlooked by Mount Bonnel, in 
full view of Barton's lovely springs and the beautiful 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 421 

river and fertile valley of the Colorado; and that 
banner they have followed and defended. 

Often has Austin suffered from the raids of the red 
man, still slowly, but firmly, that banner was fortified 
with happy homes, brave men and fair ladies, and 
now its gardens flourish and its fruits and flowers 
grow in hearing of steam engines and locomotives. 

To give an idea of the country around Austin, I will 
relate the the following incident : 

Several years ago, General Sam Houston and 
Judge Williamson, familiarly known in Texas as 
Three-legged Willie, together ascended Mount Bon- 
nell, which overlooks Austin and all the surrounding 
country for miles. After looking around and survey- 
ing the beauties of nature spread out before them — 
the mountain-tops in the distance mingling with the 
sky ; the thousands of horses, sheep, cattle, swine and 
goats, neighing, bleating, lowing, skipping and play- 
ing, as far as* the eye could reach; the beautiful 
farms, the costly houses of the rich, and the humble 
but neat cottages of the poor; the lovely valley of 
the Colorado, and Barton's famous creek, dearer to 
Austinians than Pharpar and Abana to the people of 
Damascus — General Houston, filled with admiration 
at the transcendent loveliness and inspiring grandeur 
of the scenery, slapped his companion on the shoulder 
and exclaimed : 



422 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

"'Poll my soul, Williamson, this must be tlie very 
identical spot wliere the devil took our Saviour to 
show and tempt Him with the riches and beauties of 
the world ! " 

"Yes, general," responded Judge Williamson; 
"and if Jesus Christ had been fallible, He would 
have accepted his satanic majesty's proposition ! " 

A distinguished sportsman of Austin thus wi'ites 
to the Turf^ Field and Farm : 

" Though, like every ardent sportsman, a devoted 
lover of the beauties of Nature, animate and inani- 
mate, yet it so happened that, shooting over the 
ground only in the autumn and winter, it had hardly 
occurred to me to imagine how lovely it looked in 
the pleasant spring-time. 

" III' approaching the spot where we intended to 
try our luck, you gradually ascend from the valley, 
until, at the end of two or three miles, you attain a 
considerable elevation, probably eight hundred feet 
or more above the level of the gulf, and reach the 
summit of a bold prairie ridge extending with occa- 
sional broken spurs three or four miles to your right 
and left. From this point, looking toward the north, 
the spires and domes of the lovely capital of Texas, 
twelve miles distant, shimmer in the sunlight; im- 
mediately beyond them Mount Bonnell, with its sum- 
mit wreathed in a light mist, looks down upon the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 423 

city, while at the mountain's base the crystal waters 
of the Colorado leap over the Mormon Falls and 
hurry on to Matagorda Bay. To your left, the Pilot 
Knob is distinctly visible close at hand, covered from 
its base to its summit with a rich emerald carpet, in- 
terspersed here and there with immense beds of rich 
blue and scarlet flowers. 

" Immediately in your front, in all its quiet pas- 
toral beauty, lies the Valley of Onion Creek. The 
blue sky above is flecked with masses of light gulf 
clouds, driven northward by the wind. And such a 
breath of air nothing can surpass, and as I felt it 
playing upon my cheek I almost fancied I could hear 
the roar of the Mexican Gulf from whence it had 
come, and could not help thinking it was the very 
breeze that Bryant must have felt in all the pulses of 
his blood when he asked : 

" * Breezes of the South ! 

Who toss the golden and the flame-like flowers, 
And pass the i^rairie hawk, that, poised on high, 
Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not ; ye have played 
Among the palms of Mexico and vines of Texas, 

tell us, 

' . . . have you fanned a lovelier scene than this ? 

" To the south, on the other side of this range of 
hills, stretches the lovely valley of the prairie stream, 
where we intended to fish." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Comanclies slaughtered in San Antonio and on the Colorado. — Santa Fe 
Expedition. — Houston's Second Term. — Foray of Vasques and WoU. — 
Meir Expedition. — Jack Hays, Tom Green, Ben. McCulloch, and 
others. — Indian Battles. — The Indian Cliiefs Castro and Flacco. — The 
Archive "War. — Death of Wm. Bell. — ^Heroism of Joseph Hornsby and 
Col. James Edmundson. — The Famous Retreat of John "Wahrenbur 

ger. — Col. James Mayfield, Barton Sims, and Tln-ee-Legged Willie 

Congress Assembled at Washington. — Condition of the Country. — 
Navy in Ordinary. — Frontier Protection. — Friendly Offices of the 
Great Powers. — Armistice. — The Snively Expedition. — War of the 
Regulators and Moderators. — Annexation. 

,N the 19th of March, 1840, twelve chiefs 
of the Comanches, with warriors, squaws, and 
children, amounting in all to sixj;y-five, while holding 
a treaty in San Antonio with the Texans, came to 
words, then to blows, and finally to fighting, which 
resulted in the killing of all the warriors, and the 
capture of their squaws and children, though the 
squaws fought like fury: one of them killed G. W. 
Casey, and another wounded Major Tom. Howard. 

In order to avenge their loss on this occasion, on 
the 6th and 7th of August following, 400 Com- 
anches attacked Victoria, and on the next day Linn- 
ville, killing fifteen whites at Victoria and seven at 
Linnville, as well as burning that place ; but on the 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 425 

fifth day afterwards, tlie 12 tit of August, the 
whites, under Gens. Felix Huston and Ed. Burleson, 
Captains Bird, Caldwell, Jones, Wallace, Hardeman 
and McCulloch, attacked them on their retreat, at 
Plum Creek, killed about seventy, and captured much 
plunder and many horses. 

Soon after, Col. John H. Moore with 102 men, fol- 
lowed the trail of the Comanches up the Colorado, 
about 300 miles above Austin, and on October 24, 
1840, attacked their village, killing or drowning in 
the river 128, and capturing thirty-four Indians and 
500 horses, with which he returned safely to the set- 
tlements, with the loss of only one man. 

The ill-fated Santa Fe expedition, numbering 320 
men, under the command of Bi'evet Brigadier- General 
Hugh If-Leod., a brother-in-law of President Lamar, 
set out from Austin on the 20th of June, 1841. 

" The long train of wagons," says George Wilkins 
Kendall, in his veiy interesting sketch of this unfor- 
tunate expedition, " moving heavily forward, with the 
different companies of volunteers, all well mounted 
and well armed, and riding in double file, presented 
an imposing as well as an animating spectacle, caus- 
ing every heart to beat high with the anticipation of 
exciting incidents on the boundless prairies." 

Alas ! that j)ain, suffering, and misfortune should 
" Come when the heo/rt ieats high and warm ! '* 



426 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

After marcliing nearly to their destination, having 
overcome many difficulties, and suiffered from hunger, 
thirst and Indian hostilities, the members of the 
Santa Fe expedition, commanded by Brevet Brigadier- 
General Hugh M'Leod, surrendered at San Miguel on 
the 17th of September, 1841, without firing a gun, 
and were marched as prisoners into the interior of 
Mexico. 

This expedition was not only without authority of 
law, at the wrong season of the year, without guides 
and provisions, but very expensive. Gen. Jackson 
said of it : 

" The wild-goose campaign to Santa Fe was an ill- 
judged affair ; and their surrender without the firing 
of a gun has lessened the prowess of the Texans in 
the minds of the Mexicans, and it will take another 
San Jacinto affair to restore their character." 

The administration of President Lamar, after cost- 
ing the republic millions of dollars — the Indian ap- 
propriation bills alone amounting to $2,552,319 — 
terminated on the 13th of December, 1841, when 
Gen. Houston and Edward Burleson were inau- 
gurated as President and Vice-President of the 
republic. 

The Congress of 1842 rejected a loan negotiated 
from Belgium by Gen. James Hamilton, and com- 
menced retrenchment, enacting a law which abolished 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 427 

many offices, and reduced the salaries of those re- 
tained. 

Yoakum says : " A comparative statement of the 
officers employed at the seat of government, their 
grade and pay, during the years 1840, 1841, and 
1842," made out by James B. Shaw, comptroller, on 
the 16th of December, 1842, is novi^ before me, and 
shows the amount of salaries as follows : 

1840 .$174,200 

1841 173,506 

1842 32,800 

Exchequer bills, receivable for customs alone, were 
issued, and served to pay the government officers, but 
fell to the value of twenty -five cents on the dollar, 
while Texas bonds, thrown by millions on the markets, 
sold for the enormous sums of three, five, and as high 
as ten cents per dollar. 

Early in 1842, the Mexicans, under Gen. Yasquez, 
invaded Texas, captured San Antonio, but held it only 
two days, when they retired. 

On September 11, 1842, the Mexicans, under Gen. 
"Woll, while the district court was in session, and the 
presence of an enemy unsuspected, dashed into the 
city of San Antonio, and captured the city with the 
court in session. 

After cutting up Dawson mth his fifty-three com- 



428 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

rades, the Mexicans fell in witii Capt. Caldwell's com- 
mand on the Salado, September 17, and after losing 
120 hilled and wounded, on the next morning retired 
with their booty and prisoners to the other side of the 
Rio Grande. 

The foray of Yasquez caused the famous archive 
war, and the removal of the capital back to Houston, 
and afterwards to Washington, on the Brazos, while 
that of Woll caused the advance of an army of 750 
Texans under Gen. Somerville to Laredo and Guerrero, 
which terminated in the disastrous Mier expedition in 
December of the same year, composed of about 300 
men, who, after gallantly fighting on different oc- 
casions, surrendered to the enemy, were decimated at 
Salado for attempting to escape, and finally incar- 
cerated in the dungeons of Perote, instead of " revel- 
ling," as some of them boasted, " in the halls of the 
Montezumas, and hugging their yelloio tTesuses [as 
they styled the golden images of * the Mexicans] to 
their loving bosoms^ 

Many brave and gallant gentlemen left Texas in the 
unfortunate expeditions of Santa Fe and Mier, who 
never returned to their homes or families, while others 
gladdened the hearts of thousands by their return, two 
of whom. Gen. T. J. Green and G. W. Kendall, wrote 
histories of these expeditions, the former of the Mier, 
and the latter of the Santa Fe expedition. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 429 

Sam Norvelle, a noted sport — wlio afterwards went , 
to California — wliile several indictments for gaming 
were pending in the courts of Texas against Mm, and 
wlio wrote out, published in the Alta Galifomian,, 
and sent back to all his friends, and most particularly 
the district-attorneys, an account of his death and 
burial, thereby causing a dismissal of prosecutions 
against him — was also of the Santa Fe expedition. 

Hon. Alf. Thurmond, who used to amuse his fellow- 
prisoners at Perote, while working on the fortifica- 
tions, by acting horse and running away with the 
wagon, was of the Mier expedition. 

Capts. Fisher, Cameron, Eastland, Eyan, and Pier- 
son were also members of this expedition ; but Capt. 
John C. Hays, who was commonly called Jack Hays, 
returned from Guerrero with Gen. Somerville to San 
Antonio, and afterwards became famous as an Indian 
fighter, with an independent command, which ranged 
the frontier and did efficient service in protecting the 
settlements. 

Generals Tom Green, Ben McCulloch, Sam Walk- 
er, Ad. Gillespie, W. W. "Wallace {Big foot), Kit 
Acklin, Mike Chevalier, Henry McCulloch, Kobert 
Neighbours, Jim Hudson (noted for his infinite wit 
and humor), besides many others since distinguished, 
did service on our frontier as officers or amateurs, 
who would visit Hays's camp in quest of adventure 



430 HI8T0R7 OF TEXAS. 

or amusement, and perform service without pay 
until they got tired, when they would return to. the 
settlements and their different avocations. 

Often around Hays's camp-fires w^ere heard quota- 
tions from the original Greek and Latin, while many 
of them spoke French, Spanish, and German fluently. 

Shortly after Capt. Hays commenced his distin- 
guished career, the Comanches came down upon the 
settlements west of San Antonio, and after killing 
and robbing the defenceless inhabitants, started back 
with their booty to their prairie homes, when Hays, 
being informed of their raid, started in pursuit and 
came up with them on the Frio, west of San Antonio. 

The Comanches numbered between 200 and 300, 
and when they saw the small number of their pur- 
suers, who were but forty -two, they stopped, drew up 
in line of battle and waited to be attacked. 

As the Rangers came up they commenced firing as 
they approached, and advanced without stopping to 
form in line. 

Hays was riding a mule, and when the firing com- 
menced was in the rear, but hastening to come up, he 
saw one of his men holding back his horse instead of 
letting him go ahead, as the horse w^anted to do, when 
he exclaimed: "Why, d — n it, man, what do you 
mean? Why not let him go to the front?" 

The soldier answered : " Captain, he wants to run 



MLS TOBY OF TEXAS, 431 

away -vvitli me ! " " Then," said Hays, " let me ride 
your horse, and you ride my mule." 

The man eagerly agreed to the proposition, and 
they exchanged animals. 

As soon as Hays mounted, he put spurs to the horse 
and was soon in the front, where the deadly balls and 
feathered messengers of death were flying thick and 
fast. 

As he approached the line of Comanche warriors, 
all his efforts to curb the horse were unsuccessful, 
when, drawing his iive-shooter, being joined by the 
Indian chief, Flacco, who rode a fleet charger, the tivo, 
yelling and firing, actually ivent through the enemy's 
line of battle ! 

The Comanches opened a way for th(3m to pass, 
which they did amidst a shower of bullets, when the 
rest of the comj)any, beholding the brilliant charge 
of their commander and one Indian, charged after 
them right in among the redskins, each armed with 
two five-shooters, and, firing with deadly precision, 
soon put them to flight. 

Although Capt. Hays was a man of undoubted 
courage, this brilliant charge with the gallant Flaccc 
was entirely attributable to the runaway horse. 

Soon after this, Capt.. Hayes with fifteen men, in- 
cluding Ad. Gillespie, Sam Walker, Sam Luckie, and 
tne famous story-teller. Kit Acklin, fought his cele- 



432 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

brated and most deparate battle witli Yellow Wolf 
and eighty Comanclie warriors at the Pinta trail cross- 
ing of the Guadalupe, between San Antonio and 
Fredericksburg; and, after a hand-to-hand contest 
and two charges, defeated them, killing and wound- 
ing about half their number, with a loss of one 
killed and three wounded, but without taking many 
spoils. 

Hays's report of the efficiency of the jSve-shooters 
used in these battles caused Mr. Colt to produce the 
six-shooter and to engrave on the cylinder the Kanger 
on horse-back charOTnof Indians. 

Before or after this engagement a Ranger named 
James Dunn, whose hair was remarkably red, was 
captured by the Comanches and led away an haj)less 
prisoner to their fearful camp. Strange to say, the 
murderous, blood-thirsty savages neither tortured, kill- 
ed, nor ate him alive, which he imagined they would 
do, but actually took a fancy to him, treated him with 
great kindness, and, as rTim afterwards related, came 
within an ace of killing him with kindness, or, rather, 
drowning him in the E,io Frio while attempting to 
wash the red (paint) from his hair. 

The Lipan chief, Flacco, was a large, fine-looking 
and symmetrically proportioned Indian, who lived 
mostly with the whites, and delighted to go with them 
on their raids into the Indian country. He was killed 



M18T0RT OF TEXAS. 433 

years ago and robbed of his horses near San Antonio 
by some blanketed, thieving Mexicans. 

There were two chiefs of the Lipans named Castro, 
one of whom, in company with his squaws, visited 
President Lamar at his office, who, contrasting the age 
of Castro with that of his young squaws, said : 

" These are your daughters, I suppose, Castro ? " 

" No, they are my wives," answered the old chief. 

" But they are very young and you are an old man," 
exclaimed President Lamar. 

" Yes," answered Castro, " an me telle you, ole wo- 
man, younge woman, any kind of woman is good for 
younge man, but younge woman is good for ole man." 

In February, 1841, Erance, through her charge 
d^ affaires^ M. De Saligny, suddenly broke off diploma- 
tic relation with Texas and threatened to inflict on the 
Pepublic with her fleet what she had done to Mexico. 
The difficulty was caused as follows : M. De Saligny 
had a number of horses, which were fed with corn. 
Mr. Bullock's pigs intruded into the stables to pick 
up the corn the horses sufliered to fall to the ground. 
One of M. De Saligny's servants killed some of the 
pigs. Mr. Bullock whipped the servant. M. De Sa- 
ligny had Mr. Bullock arrested, and then came into 
Bullock's hotel and Mr. Bullock j!9z^z! hi'in out. M. De 
Saligny demanded satisfaction of the government, 

and not getting it, left Texas abruptly. Anson Jones 
19 



434 EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

said : " It was understood tliat a French fleet was com- 
ma: to tlie Gulf of Mexico to settle tMs affair; and the 
Texan charge at "Washington mentioned the subject 
to the American Secretary of State and to the British 
Minister in that city, both of whom promised to send 
their respective squadrons around there to look after 
the French. But when Houston came again into 
office, a kind letter was sent to France, which satisfied 
her wounded honor, and M. De Saligny returned to 
his post." 

This Mr. Bullock venerated the late distinguished 
Justice of the Supreme Court, Hon. A. Lipscomb, who 
boarded with him and never failed to get his atten- 
tion before all others, even almost using the Judge's 
name in his prayers or blessings before eating. Mr. 
Bullock's blessings were always the same, and in only 
one sentence, as follows: " O Lord! make us thank- 
ful/or what tve are about to receive. Judge Lipscomh^ 
will you have some heeff " 

As a general thing, war is a calamity, and we are 
rather disposed to admire a man like Jacob, who was 
the father of twelve sons, than one like Cain who slew 
his brother man. 

Indeed the amiable and lovely character of the 
Saviour is so venerated that even the wicked sing : 

" Oh, I would I were like Jesus, 
So gentle, mild, and kind ! " 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 435 

But a bloodless war, like that of the arcJiives, is an 
exception to the general rule, and the Austinians de- 
serve praise rather than censure for their bloodless 
achievements in the archive loar, which I will now 
give : 

On the 5th of March, 1842, General Eaphael Vas- 
quez, with about 1,0Q0 Mexicans, invaded Texas. He 
took and pillaged San Antonio, while other parties of 
God-and-liberty-loving greasers 'did the same thing 
for Goliad and Refugio, which so affected President 
Houston that he left Austin, the capital of the repub- 
lic, went to Houston, and attempted — ^l^y ordering the 
archives, his cabinet, etc., there — to change the capi- 
tal of Texas back to Houston, which, being named 
after him, was his favorite city. 

The people of Austin, however, opposed this measure 
of the administration, looking upon it as a flagrant 
violation of the Constitution, and a heavy blow to the 
future development of their city. So when President 
Houston sent after the archives, to have them taken 
to Houston, they opposed it. 

On the 29th of December, 1842, Captain Thomas 
I. Smith, with forty armed men, by order of the Presi- 
dent, came to Austin with three was^ons, and s-oino: 

' CD ■ o O 

up to the Land Office, of which Thos. W. Ward 
was the Commissioner, commenced loadino- the wa2:ons 
with the records of the Land Office. 



436 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The Austinians having organized resistance and for- 
mally protested against the removal of the archives 
by Capt. Smith and his party, brought out an old 
howitzer, charged it with grape and fired just one dis- 
charge at Smith and his party, hitting the Land Office 
and knocking up considerable dust, but fortunately 
injuring no one. 

Whereupon Capt. Smith and his party hastily re- 
treated with as much of the archives as they had 
already in the wagons and got away with them in 
good order as far as Kinney's Fort on Brushy Creek, 
eighteen miles from Austin, where they were over- 
taken by about sixty Austinians under the command 
of Capt. Mark B. Lewis, and forced to carry back to 
Austin, in their own wagons, everything taken away 
and replace them in the Land Office. 

The scene was a rich and rare one when the return- 
ing victors were met and welcomed by the ladies of 
Austin, who honored them not only with their smiles 
and embraces, but with their loudest huzzas of appro- 
bation, for they had returned safe and victorious, when 
horrid war and bloody death had been apprehended. 

The archive warriors, as they have been styled, 
also took posession of, the arsenal, formed a vigilance 
committee, and with arms in their hands retained and 
guarded the archives until the annexation convention 
assembled on the 4th of July, 1845, when they turned 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 437 

ttem over by agreement to tLe administration of Pres- 
ident Anson Jones, on condition tliat tlie convention 
should meet in Austin. 

Comptroller James B. Shaw and Judge B. F. John- 
son, some time in 1843, came to Austin to get some 
forms and blanks from among the archives, but they 
went away without them, with the tails and manes of 
their horse and mule sheared, and with their mule's 
ears cropped. 

From the 8th of March, 1842, to the 4th of July, 
1845, the people of Austin had a hard time, for they 
were not only at war with their own people, but with 
the Mexicans and Indians. 

An incident occurred on the third day after the 
bloodless "battle of the archives," which, from its 
rarity and unexampled dash and daring, has no equal 
that the writer ever heard or read of in either ancient 
or modern history. 

On the evening of the 1st of January, 1834, after ^ "^ 
attending a public meeting in Austin, Capt. Alex. 
Coleman and William Bell started in their buggy for 
a ride, followed by Joseph Hornsby and James Ed- 
monson on horseback. 

Just as Hornsby and Edmonson mounted the spur 
of Robertson's Hill, east of Austin, where George L. 
E-obertson now resides, they saw Coleman and Bell 
jump from their buggy, cross the fence and run for 



438 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

dear life across the field soutlieast of tliem, pursued 
by about thirty Indians. 

They saw the Indians capture them both, kill Bell 
and about to kill Coleman, when, after a moment's 
consultation, they resolved, though unarmed save 
with one single-barrel pistol between the two, to 
stampede the Indians and rescue their friend Coleman 
or perish in the attempt. 

In their flight Bell and Coleman had separated, and 
the pursuing Indians did the same, many of them leav- 
ing their horses at the fence when they entered the 
field, and it so happened that when Hornsby and Ed- 
monson charged them at full speed, yelling terribly 
and discharging the single-barrel pistol in their midst, 
that they were frightened, left Coleman at liberty, 
but almost naked, and took to their heels, no doubt 
thinking that Hornsby and Edmonson would imme- 
diately be followed by more Texans. 

Coleman did his best running back to town and 
raised the alarm, while his liberators hung on the rear 
of the retreating Indians for two and a half miles, 
yelling and hallooing until assistance joined them, 
when a little battle took place, wherein three savages 
were killed and their horses and accoutrements cap- 
tured. 

One night John Wahrenberger, a Switzer and 
gardener of Col. Louis P. Cook, Secretary of the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 439 

Nav}-, returning home with a bag of meal on his 
shoulder, fell in with a party of Indians at the head 
of the avenue, near the Alhambra. He fled and 
gained the residence of Col. Cook, who then lived 
where Col. A. H. Cook now resides, but received 
three arrows in his meal-sack and one in his arm. 

As the poor fellow gained the door, he fell ex- 
hausted and fainted, while Col. Cook fired on his 
pursuers and wounded one so badly that their trail 
was easily traced the next day by the blood on the 
ground. 

After recovering his senses, John "Wahrenberger 
felt his wound, then looking round he exclaimed ; 
" Mine Got ! What a Texas ! " Then casting his eyes 
around without any more ado, he earnestly inquired : 
" Where ish mine meal ? " It was shown to him 
under his head, and taking it up he retired to his 
apartments. 

One night, as Col. James S. Mayfield, Secretary of 
State, was returning home from a party with a young- 
lady, Indians shot at and wounded him. 

Once on a time, this same Col. Mayfield, Bart Sims, 
a large, powerful old Texan, and Judge R. M. Wil- 
liamson, were in Swisher's hotel together, when the 
colonel taking umbrage at some remark of old Bart, 
so called by his acquaintances, drew his pistol and 
was about shooting him, to prevent which, Sims 



440 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

snatclied up "Three Legs," as tlie judge was some- 
times called, and holding him between himself and 
Col. Mayfield, exclaimed, " Shoot, damn you, shoot ! " 
The judge, not liking his position, but unable to change 
it, alternately exercised his powers of eloquence and 
denunciation. 

First, he earnestly appealed to the parties, saying : 
"Gentlemen, this matter can be settled amicably; 
there is no necessity for any bloodshed. For Grod's 
sake. Col. Mayfield, don't shoot ! " Then, as Mayfield 
pointed his pistol at Sims, he said : " Mayfield, make 
a centre shot ; for, damn you, I will kill you, sure, if 
my life is spared ! Bart, damn your soul, let me 
down." From this appeal, or threat, or somehow else. 
Col. Mayfield's ire cooled down, and he didn't shoot. 
But he afterwards swore that Three-legged Willie 
saved old Bart's life on this occasion. 

On Nov. 14th, 1842, Congress met at "Washington, 
on the Brazos, when the President informed it that 
" tlie country was without credit^ without means, and 
millions of dollars in debt^ 

He attributed the misfortunes of the Mier expedi- 
tion to " a loant of concert of action, and a disposi- 
tion to proceed luithout means or orders.'''' 

The navy had not been able to enforce the blockade 
of the Mexican ports, and other nations complained of 
it, and asked its abolition. The San Antonio had 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 441 

been lost at sea, and tlie otlier vessels had been ordered 
to return to Galveston. 

He advised, under the circumstances, the sale of the 
navy, which, in July, 1843, returned to Galveston and 
for want of funds was laid up in ordinary. 

At this session he vetoed a bill for the protection 
of the frontier, the election of a major-general of 
militia, and appropriating $50,000 for that purpose, 
but the bill was passed over his veto, and Gen. T. J. 
Kusk made the major-general. 

" He likewise," says the learned Yoakum, " gave an 
account of the trouble in regard to the archives and the 
resistance opposed to their removal j and also in re- 
gard to the steps that had been taken to conciliate 
the Indian tribes." 

It can be said in great praise of President Houston 
that his Indian policy cost less money and less blood, 
but was more e:ffective in protecting the frontier than 
his predecessor's. Comptroller James B. Shaw gives 
the Indian appropriations made by the republic as 
follows : 

1837 ] TT . , fl X ■ f $20,000 

1838 j ^^^'^^^^ « ^"^* *^^^ • • I 170,000 

1839 ] ( 1,430,000 

1840 V Lamar's term \ 1,027,319 

1841 ) [ 95,000 

19* 



442 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

1842 ] ( 120,000 

1843 V Houston's second term i 66,950 

1844 j [ 17,142 

1845. .Jones's term 45,000 



The raids of Yasquez, Woll, Sanchez, Garcia and 
others, .together with the prisoner-murdering policy of 
the Mexicans, caused President Houston, on October 
15th, 1842, to address the Great Powers who had 
acknowledged the independence of Texas an appeal, 
in which he said : " In view of the character of hos- 
tilities at present waged by Mexico against Texas, 
and of those principles which have been, in the oj)in- 
ion of this government, so frequently and so flagrant- 
ly violated by our enemy, the hope is confidently 
indulged by the President that the direct interference 
of nations mutually friendly will he extended to ar-- 
rest a species of warfare unbecoming the age in which 
we live, and disgraceful to any jDeople professing to 
be civilized," 

Through the friendly offices of England, France, 
and the United States, Santa Anna, who was still at 
the head of the Mexican Government, on the 27th of 
May, 1843, agreed to an armistice^ which was accept- 
ed and proclaimed by Texas on June 15th, 1843. 

On the 25th of April of this year, the Skively 
ExPEDiTioisr, under the command of Col. Jacob Siiively^ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 443 

was organized at Georgetown, six miles from Preston, 
or Coffee's Station, about ten or twelve miles above' 
the city of Denison, on Red E-iver. 

This expedition was authorized by the administra- 
tion, but was to mount, equip, and provision itself, 
and yej; to divide the spoils taken with the govern- 
ment. Its field of operations was to be between Santa 
Fe and the United States, and its object to capture 
Mexican caravans going and returning from Santa 
Fe to the United States. 

Arriving at the head- waters of the Arkansas River, 
near the road from Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe, 
after innumerable vexations, trials, hardships, and 
sufferings in the wilderness, through the beautiful 
prairies, over the glittering Mils and sunlit summits 
of the Wachita Mountains, no doubt often reflecting 
upon the truth of the poet, when he said, 

" ' Tis distance lends enchantment to tJie view, 
And robes the mountairis in its azure hue," 

they at last, on the 20th of June, fell in with a cara- 
van, attacked, killed and captured the whole party — 
aggregating seventeen killed and eighty prisoners, of 
whom eighteen were wounded. 

Now, this trade between Santa Fe and Indepen- 
dence, Mo., was valuable to the United States, and 
with the next caravan came an escort of 195 United 



444 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

States dragoons witli two pieces of artillery, commanded 
by Capt. Philip St. George Coohe^ wlio claimed that 
Col. Snively was out of Texas, and in the United 
States, depredating npon its commerce. 

Snively 's command had been reduced to 107 men 
• — seventy under command of Capt. Chandler having 
started home on the 29th. So, on the 30th, after 
Cooke had surrounded the remainder, lighted his 
port-fires, and threatened to cut them to pieces if 
they did not immediately stack their arms, they sur- 
rendered, were then given ten guns and permitted to 
return to Texas ! 

Snively started back, sent an express to Capt. 
Chandler and joined him on the 2d of July, when, 
after some delay, many wishing to remain and still 
attempt to carry out the grand object of the expedi- 
tion, while others wanted to go home, they returned., 
losing sixty horses at one time by a stampede, and in 
return killing ten or fifteen Comanches. The Snively 
expedition was not a success ! The greater portion 
of it surrendered, as did the members of the Santa Fe 
and Mier expeditions, neither of which added any 
sheen to the lustre of Texan arms. 

During the years 1842, 1843, and 1844, in Shelby 
County, took place the famous war between the Regu- 
lators and Moderators, one of the prime causes of 
which was Charles W. Jackson, master and owner of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 445 

a Red River steamer running between New Orleans 
and Shreveport, Louisiana, who, after some fighting 
and bloodshed at Shreveport, took refuge in Shelby- 
ville, ran for Congress, was beaten, and then, for ex- 
posing some fraudulent headrights, was notified to 
leave the country or he would be killed. Capt. Charlie 
killed Mr. Joseph Goodbread, who served the notice 
on him, and was himself waylaid and killed near 
Logan sport. 

Wat. Moraan, John E. Myrick, and others attacked 
Capt. Jackson's slayers, killed and captured some, 
hung two, and spared one. 

Then, for revenge, and to stop Moman's career with 
his Regulators, the party called Moderators was 
organized, commanded first by John M. Bradley, who 
was killed immediately after divine service at a night 
meeting in San Augustine by Wat. Moman. This 
party was afterwards commanded by Alfred Truit 
and Sam Todd. - 

Col. O. T. Boulware (who, one morning before 
breakfast, killed Pete Whetstone, Barton, and Ward, 
in and near Marshall), with his party from Harrison 
County, including Alexander and Minor Davidson^ 
joined the Regulators. War was declared, and the 
Regulators and Moderators met in battle at the Cow- 
pens and the Church. 

The first was a drawn battle between sixty -two Reg- 



446 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

ulators and 225 Moderators, in whicli several were 
wounded and one killed. The latter, tlie battle of tlie 
Churcli, resulted in the defeat of the 225 Moderators 
by 300 Regulators, with a loss of four killed and seven 
wounded; immediately after which the amiable land- 
lord of the Colorado Valley, between Bastro]3 and 
Austin, Capt. Jack Nash, with others in command of 
the militia of the republic, ordered out by President 
Houston, appeared on the scene of action, arrested a 
few, who were required to give bail for their appear- 
ance at Shelbyville, and dispersed, the rest. 

But none of the offenders were ever tried, the pros- 
ecutions were dismissed, and the Mexican war coming 
on soon after, the Regulators and Moderators shook 
hands, formed companies, joined the same regiment, 
and vented on the unfortunate Mexicans the wrathful 
feelings formerly entertained for each other — thus end- 
ing the war between the Regulators and Moderators, 
which brought death upon about fifty Texans. 

Col. M. T. Johnson and Oapt E]ph Daggett (after- 
wards a distinguished officer in Hays's regiment, so 
famous in the Mexican war) were Regulators. At the 
Cowpens, Capt. Ephraim had a ball shot through his 
wardrobe, but fortunately the hero's life was spared, 
in order that he might bear aloft in victorious battle 
the glorious old star-spangled banner, even to the 
halls of the Montezumas. 



niSTOBY OF TEXAS. 447 

The annexation of Texas to the United States may- 
be compared to the courtship and marriage of a young 
couple, wherein John Bull, Brother Jonathan, and 
Louis Phillipe were suitors to the fair maiden of the 
Lone Star^ which, though not a suppliant, but rather 
coy and coquettish, gave not only her hand but her 
heart to Brother Jonathan. 

President Tyler, Mr. Dallas, Gen. Jackson, and 
James K. Polk, in whose honor the present lovely 
cities of Tyler and Dallas, and the fair counties of 
Jackson and Polk were named, favored annexation, 
and by preparing the public mind of the United States 
for it, did most to bring it about. 

As early as July,. 18 42, President Tyler openly fa- 
vored it : 

" I am anxious for it," said he, " and wish most sin- 
cerely I could conclude it at once." 

Gen. J. P. Henderson and Mr. Isaac Van Zandt, with 
great zeal and distinguished ability, represented Texas 
at Washington City during this interesting period of 
her history — in whose honor, Henderson, the county 
seat of Rusk County, and Van 'Zandt County were 
named. Gen. Houston did all he could, and yet 
wrote : 

" I am as cool as a shoemaker's lapstone in an open 
shop at Christmas," yet at the same time cautioning 
Texans " not to evince too much anxiety — it would be 



448 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

regarded as importunity^ and tlie voice of supplication 
in such cases seldom commanded great respectP 

On tlie 8tli of June, 1844, the Senate of the United 
States, by a vote of 35 to 16, rejected the annexation 
of Texas, but the canvass of that year for President in- 
volved the question ; Polk and Dallas, the Democratic 
candidates, were for annexation, while the Whig ticket, 
headed by Henry Clay, was against it. 

Mr. Clay was defeated and the question settled. 
The people of the American Union coolly and delib' 
erately expressed their desire that Texas should be 
annexed to the United States. 

Before this, Texas had expressed the same desire; 
indeed, the peoj)le of Texas were mostly emigrants 
from the United States — their manners, habits, cus- 
toms, language, and laws were similar — they tvere the 
sams people I 

So it required but little diplomacy to bring about 
annexation after the elections in 1844. 

Although the French had first extended the right 
hand of fellowship to Texans, they iong ago had done 
the same thing; to their forefathers when contendino- 
against the tremendous power of Old England. 

The gallant Lafayette, Savannah, Yorktown, nor 
La Belle France were forgotten ! 

Nor was the great nation which spoke the language 
of the victors of Agincourt, Poictiers and Cressy — • 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 449 

whose sons liad wept over tlie Talbot heroes of the 
immortal bard of Avon, forgotten ! 

It was not because Texas loved France and England 
less, hut hecause she loved the United States more. 

On the 25th of February, 1845, the House of Rep- 
resentatives of the United States Congress passed the 
annexation resolutions by a vote of 120 to 98 ; in the 
Senate they passed by a vote of 27 to 25 on the 1st 
day of March, and were approved on the same day by 
President Tvler. 

In the fall of 1844, Dr. Anson Jones and Col. K. L. 
Anderson were elected President and Vice-President 
of Texas, and inaugurated as such December 9th, 1844. 
On the 15th of May, 1845, President Jones called a 
Convention of the people of Texas, to meet on the 4th 
of July, and an extra session of Congress to meet on 
the 16th of June, 1845. 

The Convention and Congress both approved annex- 
ation, and the Convention also framed a Constitution, 
which, with the resolutions, were submitted to a 
direct vote of the people and by them ratified, after 
which, in December, 1845, this Constitution was ap- 
proved by Congress, and thus the Republic of Texas 
expired, and her Lone Star at that memorable epoch 
was added to the more brilliant and glorious constel- 
lation of the American Union. 



CHAPTER XVIl. 

The Mexican War. — Sale of Santa Fg to the United States. — Public 
Buildings. — Railroads. — The Civil War. — The Soldiers' Return. — Mili- 
tary and Carpet-bag Rule. — The Administration of Govs. Hamilton, 
Pease, and Davis. — Peace and Development. — Union Sentiment in 
Texas. — Texas Pacific Railroad. — Governors of Texas. 

^T^HE annexation of Texas brought on the Mexican 
war, wherein Gov. J. P. Henderson and thousands 
of Texans participated, and gained great glory at Palo 
Alto, Kesaca de la Palma, Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, 
Molina del Rey, Cherubusco, and other famous vic- 
tories of Gens. Scott and Taylor, which culminated in 
the capture of the city of Mexico, and were followed 
by the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, February 2, 
1848, and the annexation of California as well as 
Texas to the American Union. Of the gallant men 
who took part in these brilliant victories were those 
of Col. Jack Hays's celebrated regiment, of which Sam 
"Walker was lieutenant-colonel, Mike Chevallie major, 
and Tom Green, Ben McCulloch, Claib C. Herbert, J. 
B. McCown, Kit Acklin, S. L. Ballew, Eli Chandler, 
Frank Early, and E.. A. and James Gillespie, were 
captains. Most all these gallant soldiers, after dis- 
tinguished careers, sleep with the dead ; but I will 



mSTOEY OF TEXAS. 45X 

conclude tliis paragraph with the prayer of one of 
them, Capt. J. B. McCown, just before the storming 
of Monterey : " O Lord, we are about to join battle 
with vastly superior numbers of the enemy, and. 
Heavenly Father, we would mightily like for you to 
be on our side and help us ; but if you can't do it, for 
Christ's sake don't go over to the Mexicans, but just 
lie low and keep dark, and you will see one of the 
d — dest fights you ever saw in all your born days." 

Had all Mexico been annexed to the Union, it 
would, in all probability, have given peace and devel- 
opment to the revolutionary-loving children of Mon- 
tezuma and rendered entirely unnecessary the sad fate 
of the amiable Maximilian and the downfall of the 
Mexican Empire. It might also have afforded an out- 
let for the negroes of the South, and possibl)^ thereby 
prevented the late civil war ; but Providence decreed 
otherwise. 

In 1850, Texas sold to the United States a portion 
of its northwestern territory, including Santa Fe, for 
the sum of ten millions of dollars. With this money 
the State paid its debts, erected its public buildings, 
founded asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind, as well 
as sanctuaries for poor, unfortunate lunatics, whom 
sorrow or misfortune had rendered incapable of taking 
care of themselves. 

Two millions of dollars were set aside as a common 



452 EI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 

school fund, and six thousand dollars per mile were 
loaned to railroad companies, in order to facilitate 
their construction. 

The Southern Pacific, Houston and Texas Central, 
and Galveston, Houston and Henderson Kailroad 
Companies, etc., were chartered. Immigration and 
capital flowed into the State to such an extent that in 
1860 its population was 604,215. 

In 1861, selfish politicians, party spirit, and sectional 
animosity (engendered by the agitation of the slavery 
question), placed Texas with her sister Southern States 
in the late deplorable and unfortunate, but ever-mem- 
orable civil war between Americans. 

The venerable ex-president, Gren. Sam Houston, was 
the governor of Texas at this time, and opposed the 
secession of the State, yet respectfully declined 50,000 
Federal troops tendered him by President Lincoln to 
control his people, when, refusing to take the oath to 
support the Confederacy, he was deposed, or, as he 
himself used to say, decapitated. 

So greatly was the secession feeling predominant in 
Texas that he was unable to direct his own family — 
even his dearly beloved son Sam was a Secessionist, 
and coming into the governor's ofiice one day just 
before his deposition, wearing a secession rosette on 
his breast, the governor asked him : 

" What is that, Sam, on the lapel of your coat ? " 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 453 

" It is a secession rosette, father," answered young 
Sam. 

" Why, Sammy, haven't you got it in the wrong 
place ? " said the governor. 

" Where should I wear it, father," asked Sam, " if 
not over my heart ? " 

" I think, Sammy, it would be more appropriate for 
3^ou to wear it pinned to the inside of your coat-tail ! " 
answered the governor. 

The Old Hero himself soon laid aside his opposition, 
and being invited to drill the Bayland Guards grati- 
fied that company, and when putting them through, 
gave his commands as follows : 

" Bayland Guards ! eyes right ! Do you see Louis 
T. Wigfall ? " There being no response, he continued : 
" Eyes left ! Do you see Williamson S. Oldham ? " 
There being no response to this inquiry, he went on 
with his commands : " Eyes front ! Do you see either 
of them ? " when some one answered, " No." " No," 
said he, " and you never will ! " 

Gen. Wigfall and Judge Oldham were his political 
opponents and violent Secessionists. 

When his son Sam got ready to start for the Con- 
federate army and came to bid his father farewell, the 
Old Hero straightened himself up to his majestic 
height and gave the young gentleman his benediction, 
saying : " My son, do your duty as a soldier ! Bring 



454 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

no discredit uj^on the family ! May God Almighty 
bless you ! " 

Young Sam did do Ms duty, and shed his blood for 
the Confederacy, though he was not killed. 

In Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, as well 
as in Arkansas, Missouri, and all intervening States, 
Texans poured out their blood like water, and for four 
long years fought, bled, and died, until the dark clouds 
of adversity gathered over their heads, shutting out 
all hope of successfully continuing the struggle, when 
they furled forever at Appomatox their cross of St. 
Andrew, and, with sad hearts and. weary limbs, many 
brave and gallant soldiers who had contended with 
impetuous valor at Manassas, Shiloh, Fredericksburg, 
and in the Wilderness, against vastly superior num- 
bers, returned to the once lovely homes which they 
had left, thoughtfully saying : 

" Oh, weep not, dearest ! weep not, 
If in the cause I fall ! 
Oh, weep not, dearest ! weep not, 
It in my Country^ s call ! " 

and found them abandoned, desolate, or in ruins ! 

The world has ranked Gens. E,obt. E. Lee, Stone- 
wall Jackson, Leonidas Polk, and Albert Sidney 
Johnston, as noble and gallant gentlemen ; but it may 
be truly said, that the brave soldiers who fought 
under these distinguished generals and survive the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 455 

many bloody battles of our late unhappy civil war, 
were animated by the same conscientious sense of duty 
which actuated their beloved commanders. 

Among those who fought on the Southern side' 
were many citizens who, born and reared in the North, 
had emio;rated to the South. 

The statistics of Johnson's Island, where Confeder- 
ate officers were imprisoned during the war, show that 
the majority of officers, in proportion to numbers, who 
took the oath of allegiance or neutrality when tendered 
by the government and returned home exempt from 
military duty thereafter during the war, ivas in favor 
of the South. 

I have often heard of a Boston mother who visited 
her son at this place, who was a Confederate officer, 
and said to him : 

" My son, I have come for you and brought money 
and clothing. Your brother officers of the South are 
taking the oath and going home ; I wish you to take 
it and go home with me." 

He answered : " Mother, I have taken an oath to 
support the Confederate States. Do you wish me to 
perjure myself ? I may be exchanged in a few days, 
and be ordered to my command. Shall I disgrace 
my Puritan ancestors by deserting the cause which I 
have sworn to support ? " 

" No, my son," she answered, " do your duty ! I 



456 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

would rather weep over tlie honored grave of my son, 
than see him alive dishonored ! I go home without 
you, and while I shall pray to God for the success of 
the Union arms, I shall daily and nightly appeal to 
Him to shield and protect you ! Oh, my son ! may 
the great, wise, and most merciful God bless you ! " 

That Boston mother returned home, but her son re- 
mained, and through the whole war did his duty as a 
Confederate, and was surrendered by his heroic gene- 
ral only aftei' his cause was lost. 

During the war all internal improvements ceased, 
immigration stopped, railroads were run in the in- 
terest of the Confederacy, farms were abandoned, 
and those who cultivated them sent to the front, 
while their fields and gardens grew up in weeds and 
thistles. 

In 1865, after " grim-visaged war had smoothed 
his wrinkled front," 

" Peace began her victories 
No less renowned than war." 

Old fences and houses were repaired, new houses 
were built, new fields were inclosed, new farms 
opened, and Il^orthern immigration and capital, with 
labor-saving machinery and industrious habits, came 
to Texas, and were received with open-armed wel- 
come hospitality and kindness, because those Texans 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 457 

wlio had been born and reared in the North had en- 
deared themselves to the others by their fidelity and 
devotion to the State of their adoption. 

It is a noted fact that no Confederate soldiers fought 
braver nor died more gallantly than those born and 
reared in the North, and it should be fervently hoped 
by all true patriots that the late unhappy struggle 
will be looked upon by the good people of both sec- 
tions as a little quarrel and fight between brothers — 
to be regretted and hereafter forever, by both, to be 
forgiven, and remembered only to prevent a repetition 
of such a deplorable calamity. 

Indeed, as a Texan and a citizen of the American 
Union, I can truly say, in the language of the poet : 

" I do not know that American alive 
With whom my soul is any jot at odds, 
More than the infant that is bom to-night." 

True, the military and carpet-bag administrations of 
the state government since 1865 have been very grie- 
vous, and are justly odious, while the colored troops 
who fought so nohly^ and were afterwards stationed in 
many cities of the South, as if to show the Southern 
people, in the language of those odoriferous gentle- 
men, that the hottoin rail tuas on toj}^ have often 
caused the Southron's blood to boil, and incited him 

to denounce his victorious Northern brothers as foul 
20 



458 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

invaders of their native land, and tlie successful rob- 
bers of their less powerful Southern kinsmen. 

From 1865, after the flight of Gov. P. Murrahto 
Mexico, where he died, in 1866, the military govern- 
ment of A. J. Hamilton was mild and conservative. 

In 1866 J. W. Throckmorton was elected over Gov. 
E. M. Pease by a large majority, but after an admin- 
istration of one year, which gave general satisfaction 
to the people, he was adjudged an impediment to re- 
construction, and was superseded by the appointment 
and installation of Ex- Gov. E. M. Pease, whose ad- 
ministration was gentle, mild, and just, but not de 
jure. 

In 1869 Gov. Pease resigned, and Gen. E. J. Davis 
was appointed in his stead ; then came the Constitu- 
tional Convention and the notorious election of Gov. 
Davis over Ex-Gov. A. J. Hamilton, who, it is generally 
understood and believed by the people of Texas, re- 
ceived more votes than Davis, yet was counted out^ 
while Davis was coicnted in. 

With the administration of Gov. Davis came the 
militia bill, the police bill, printing law, school law, 
and all the leading radical measures of the odious 
12th Legislatu]?e, which culminated in martial law for 
Hill, Walker, Limestone, and Freestone Counties — and 
the murder of Godley, House, Mitchell, Applewhite 
and others by negro policemen. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 459 

For more tLaii four long years, by tlie exercise of 
patience, fortitude, and endurance, the people of Texas 
bore up under tlie lieavy weight of this most odious, 
unjust, and corrupt of all their governments, either 
state or national. 

But to cap the climax of an unenviable notoriety : at 
the meeting of the 14th Legislature, after a fair elec- 
tion ordered by himself, in which he was a candidate 
for re-election and was overwhelmingly beaten. Gov. 
Davis organized armed resistance to the inauguration 
of his successful competitor, Gov. E-ichard Coke, and 
actually, with about 200 armed men, for several days 
after his term had expired, held forcible possession 
of the basement of the Texas capitol, while he tele- 
graphed to President Grant about the insurrection of 
Texans^ tlie great danger of Ms life, and begged for 
the nation^ s arms to sustain him in his usurpation. 

President Grant justly declined to sustain the tena- 
cious office-holder, by which he caused the smashing 
all to flinders of the glass which covered his picture 
in the governor's mansion, the snatching of hisj>ictur6 
from the frame, and the consignment of hispictnire to 
the flames of the executive kitchen ! 

The cost of the military and carpet-bag adminstra- 
tion under the reign of Gov. E. J. Davis and the 
notorious 12th and 13th Legislatures, increased from a 
half million of dollars per annum to ten times that 



460 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

sum ; and to give an idea of how, after more than four 
years of despotic rule over Texas, Governor Davis is 
estimated, the following incident, which took place 
towards the end of his eign, is very apropos : In 
Corpus Christi or some other Western town, there 
lived a certain man named Montgomery, who did all 
he could to elect Davis's candidate for the- Legislature, 
and' after the election came up to Austin, when Gov 
ernor Davis, true to his promise, gave him an office. 

Montgomery started home, but at Lockhart, hearing 
some one abusing his friend, Governor Davis, and 
calling him very hard names, he struck the abuser, 
and after a very severe fight, whipped him. 

At Victoria the same thing happened with a similar 
result, but a little harder fight. 

Arriving at . home, Montgomery was installed into 
his office and commenced the duties thereof, when, 
a third time, hearing Governor Davis very severely 
abused, he again essayed to whip his abuser. But 
this time his opponent, although rather a small man, 
was well skilled in the noble art of self-defence, and 
after a long and well-contested struggle, Montgomery 
sung out " Enough ! " after which, feeling unable to 
fight Governor Davis's abusers any further, he sent in 
his resignation, stating his experience and the cause 
of his resignation, whereupon Davis declined to re- 
ceive his resignation, at the same time ordering his 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 4gX 

appointee to stop fighting, witii the very pertinent re- 
mark : 

" Were I to fight every Texan who speaks ill of me, 
I should want many regiments at my back." 

The wise j^olicy of the present administration of 
the National Government in permitting Texans to 
enjoy the invaluable blessings of self-government 
without Federal interference is fast wiping out, to my 
great joy and satisfaction, all bitterness of feeling ex- 
isting in the Southern heart consequent upon a long 
and bloody as well as an unsuccessful war, and will 
cause our people to look upon their Northern brothers, 
not as conquerors or victorious adversaries, but as 
joint heirs with themselves of the inestimable inherit- 
ance of constitutional liberty handed down to Ameri- 
cans by their illustrious Kevolutionary ancestors. 

It can be truly said that the great body of the people 
of Texas desire nothing so much as the peace, jDros- 
perity, advancement and glory of the great American 
Union. 

They see in this their own progress, but in another 
war with the North, even were they the victors,'^' 
they see demoralization, credit mobilier, bribery, cor- 
ruption and individual as well as national decay. 

* It took four long years for the North, with the aid of mercenary troops 
from Europe, to take Richmond, while the Prussians took Paris in less than 
one year ; and yet the French had often overcome Prussia and Austria. 



"462 EISTOBT OB' TEXAS. 

Their interest and inclination is to protect and defend 
tlie beautiful and glorious fabric of constitutional lib- 
erty ! They wish not to see it in ruins, like the Colos- 
seum and the Parthenon. 

They would not have the government of their an- 
cestors pointed at by the nations of the world as a sad 
and mournful vestige of departed greatness and power, 
nor do they wish that Washington, Jefferson, Adams, 
Franklin, Madison and their compatriots, the revered 
founders of liberty in America, should have lived and 
struggled in vain ! 

Long before Gen. Lee said he thought his allegiance 
was first due to Virginia, the Chief Magistrate of 
Texas said Jiis ivasfa^st due to Texas, the land of his 
adoption. 

A monument might well be erected to the Confed- 
erate dead, with the inscription similar in words and 
as true in fact as that placed over the heroes of Ther- 
mopylae : 

" Tell it in the South, O stranger ! that we died 
here in obedience to her laws ! " 

Yet, instead of this, it has been attempted by some 
of their Northern brethren to make their memory 
odious by prohibiting the decoration of their graves by 
their survivino^ comrades and friends ! 

Oh, that the gentlemen of the press of Columbia, in- 
spired by the heavenly goddess, instead of " going 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 463 

to bed at niglit and rising in tile morning " with 
their columns polluted with personal scandal, would 
turn from such unworthy work and see to the preser- 
vation and advancement of the liberties of America, 
for a house divided against itself shall not stand ! * 

Since the abolition of slavery, which Texans gen- 
erally look upon as a blessing in disguise, and would 
not re-establish to-morrow had they the power, the 
money formerly expended by the planters "to buy 
more negroes to raise more cotton" is seeking another 
channel of investment. The purchase and improve- 
ment of real estate and the construction of railroads 
are now drawing this surplus capital. 

And notwithstanding the maladministration of E. 
J. Davis, the H. and T. C. R. R. was extended through 
the State to Red River and to the cities of Austin 
and Waco ; the International was built from Rockdale 
to Long view ; the Great Northern from Houston to 
Palestine and Minneola ; the Gulf, Western Texas and 
Pacific from Indianola to Cuero ; and the Point Isabel 
and Brownsville Railroad now connects those towns ; 



* The New York Sun of Sept. 23, pleading the cause of poor Louisiana, to 
free Tier from liarpies who steal as tliey sting ^ oondescending-ly says of her 
noble and chivalrous sons : " For the sin which they committed they have 
paid the debt in punishment, and yet they linger on in a misery which no 
people have ever known on our continent with whom the EngMsh language 
was a mother tongue and British liberty an inheritance." 



464 HISTORY OF TEXA8. 

the B. B., B. and W. T. R. B,. lias been extended west 
from Columbus towards San Antonio as far as Lu- 
ling ; while the Texas Pacific was extended from Mar- 
shall to Dallas and Texarkana, connecting Sherman 
and Bonham, and getting within eight miles of Paris. 

This road, notwithstanding the late financial crisis 
and the great stringency in the money market, even 
without the aid of the National Gov^ernment in guar- 
anteeing the interest on its bonds, is slowly progress- 
ing westward. 

The government aided the Northern Pacific by 
guaranteeing its bonds and interest to the amount of 
$88,400,000. 

When the Texas Pacific asked Congress to aid it by 
the guarantee of the interest on its bonds, ivith perfect 
security, it was denied ! The Northern Pacific asked 
much, and it was granted ; the Texas Pacific asked but 
little, yet that little was refused, although the latter 
is a much better road for government purposes than 
the former ! However, it is to be hoped that Congress 
will take a sober second thought on this subject, and 
grant the aid asked for this great national road. 

The leading Republican journal of Kentucky, the 
Louisville Commercial, thus speaks of the national 
advantages to accrue from the completion of this 
road : 

" In the first place, it wiH give competition, causing a 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 465 

decline in rates of freights and passage, as the Texas 
Pacific can afford to carry at less rates than upper 
lines. It will form a reliable line between tlie East 
and the West, wliicli can never be interrupted by- 
snow blockades, to which the Union and Central Pa- 
cific are yearly liable, and will command the greater 
part of the through passenger travel during the win- 
ter months. 

"The new line will develop a rich field for American 
trade and enterprise in Northern Mexico, and open 
up mineral fields of fabulous richness in all that sec 
tion. The saving to. the government in the transpor- 
tation of troops, munitions of war, and the mails will 
more than equal, annually, the amount of interest 
guaranteed, even if the company never paid back one 
dollar. The line will form a perfect protection 
against the ravages of the Indians in Northern and 
Western Texas and Southern California. 

"The State of Texas has recently passed a bill to 
organize seven companies of minute men, which will 
actually cost the state at least $500,000 to perform a 
duty which should devolve on the general govern- 
ment. All this will be saved by the completion of 
this great enterprise. It will attract across its line 
much of the commerce of the Orient, as the length of 
rail from San Diego to the Atlantic at Charleston and 

Savannah is about two-thirds of the distance from 
20* 



466 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

San Francisco to New York, and, owing to differ- 
ences in grades and curvatures, practically but one- 
half. From San Diego to Galveston the distance is 
but 1,767 miles, against 3,315 by the Union and Cen- 
tral Pacific. It will direct a stream of immigration 
to the South, from the piny woods of the Carolinas 
to the prairies of Texas, and infuse new life into the 
entire railroad system of the South. It will give vi- 
tality to the now inert and sluggish current of South- 
ern commerce, and bind the entire country together 
with closer and more fraternal ties. Towns and 
cities will spring up along their lines, and the cotton 
will be manufactured where produced, and exported 
over this great thoroughfare to China, Japan, and In- 
dia. The immense mineral resources of the South in 
iron and coal will be utilized, and new life and vigor 
infused both North and South." 

Since annexation, Texas has had the following 
governors : 

J. P. Hei^deesof, from 1846 to 1847. 

Geoege T. Wood, from 1847 to 1849. 

P. H. Bell, from 1849 to 1853. 

E. M. Pease, from 1853 to 1857. 

H. E. Runnels, from 1857 to 1859. 

Sam Houston, from 1859 to 1861. 

Edwaed Claek, from March 18, 1861, to end o£ 
the year. 



1r 




THE PRESENT GOVERNOR AND PUBLIC OFFICERS OF TEXAS. 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 467 

F. E. Lubbock, from 1861 to 1863. 

P. MuEEAH, from 1863 to 1865. 

A. J. Hamilton, from 1865 to 1866. 

J, W. Theockmoeton, from 1866 to 1867. 

E. M. Pease, from 1867 to 1869. 

E. J. Davis, from 1869 to 1874. 

E.ICHAED Coke, from 1874 to . 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



TEXAS LAND TITLES, 



rriHE earliest titles to land in Texas emanated from 
-^ the kings of Spain, who, being good Catholics, 
claimed through the Pope of Rome, who, as tlie suc- 
cessor of St. Peter and vicegerent of the Son of God 
on earth, derived his title from the Almighty ; hence 
the old Spanish titles or testimonios for labors^ 
leagues, one-third and one-fourth of a league, and 
eleven leagues, issued prior to the 13th of November, 
1835, either by the Spanish or Mexican Government, 
being of divine origin, have been generally held by the 
courts of Texas to be good, but titles issued between 
the 13th of jSTovember, 1835 (when the Consultation 
closed the land offices), and the 14th December, 1837, 
have beeen adjudged worthless. 

On the 13th of December, 1837, the Congress of 
the Re23ublic of Texas passed the act establishing 
a General Land Office, which was immediately vetoed 
by President Houston, but on the next day passed 
over his veto by constitutional majorities of both 
houses, and became the law of the land — and from 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 459 

this office liave issued all titles to lands in Texas since 
the 14tli of December, 1837. 

By ordinances and decrees of tlie Consultation at 
San Felipe, passed tlie 24tli of November and tlie 
5tli and llth of December, 1835, every noncommis- 
sioned officer, private, drummer, and fifer of tlie 
regular and volunteer armies of Texas, were granted 
bounties of 640 acres, or one mile square of land each, 
which, in case of death or disability in the service, was 
to descend to their heirs or legal representatives. 
■ By acts of the Convention and Congress, the bounty 
to soldiers was increased to 1920 acres for all who 
volunteered or enlisted for during the war, while 
volunteers for three months were granted 320, for six 
months 640, for nine months 960, and for twelve 
months and upwards 1280 acres. 

The acts of December 5 and 10, 1836, and June 12, 
1837, for frontier protection, extended the same boun- 
ties to the Bangers. 

On the 4th of December, 1837, the Congress of 
Texas granted to each living hero of San Jacinto, San 
Antonio, Goliad, and the Alamo, and the heirs of the 
dead, one mile square of land. 

A joint resolution of December 10, 1841, granted 
to the soldiers enlisted under the act approved Decem- 
ber 21, 1838, for frontier protection, a bounty of 240 
acres each, and on the 11th of February, 1852, the 



470 HISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

State of Texas granted a bounty of 320 acres of land 
eacli to the members of a company of Hangers com- 
manded by Capt. Wm. Becknell in 1836. 

These hounty land claims came before the Secretary 
of War and the Adjutant-General, who, upon the 
presentation of regular discharges signed by company 
officers and countersigned by some field offi.cer or 
commander of a post, issued the hounty land war- 
rants. 

By the Constitution of the Republic, section ten, 
general provisions, adopted March 17, 1836, every 
head of a family then living in Texas, who had not re- 
ceived his portion of land as a colonist, was entitled 
to one league and one labor of land, and every single 
man of the age of seventeen and upwards was entitled 
to the third of a league. 

Orphans of those entitled to land under the coloniza- 
tion laws of Mexico were entitled to all the rights of 
their parents at the time of their death. 

The twenty-ninth section of the act of the 14th 
of December, 1837, entitled every head of a family 
who arrived in Texas after the declaration of inde- 
pendence, but previous to the 1st of October, 1837, 
to 1280, and all single men to 640 acres: and if they 
married before the 1st of October, 1837, they were 
entitled to an additional 640 acres, upon condition 
that they should reside three years in Texas, " and 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 471 

do and perform all tlie duties required of other like 
citizens." 

The twenty- third section of the same act entitled all 
single men who were by the Constitution entitled to a 
third of a league, to two- thirds of a league additional, 
on condition of getting married within the next 
twelve months thereafter. 

Under these wise and salutary provisions, Avhich 
passed the Senate unanimously, the morals as well as 
fortunes of the early immigrants improved. Young 
men quit playing poker on Sundays and went to 
church ; barbers, tailors, and dancing-masters were em- 
ployed ; horse-racing and cock-fighting were neglected, 
and our gay and festive bachelors capered nimbly 
with sporting tricks before their amorous looking- 
glasses ! 

Camp-meetings in the wilderness were frequent; 
balls and parties became fashionable. 

There was a sound of revelry by night, 

And our Texan parlors gathered then 
Their beauty and their chivalry, and bright 

The lamps shone over fair women and brave men ; 
A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when 

Music arose with its voluptuous swell, 
Soft eyes looked love to eyes which sjjoke again, 

And all went merry with the marriage-bell. 

It has been said that a minister stood on one side of 



472 EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 

the Brazos, and, the river being up, with, no means of 
crossing it, actually inarried a couple standing on the 
oj)posite hanh. 

Even General Houston was heard to exclaim in one 
of his public speeches, 

" The world was sad — the garden was a wild ; 
And man, the hermit, sighed — till woman smUed." 

Heaven was propitious, or if a little Homeric fancy 
might be excused, the gods and goddesses of high 
Olympus gave their approving nod, 

" And coming events cast their shadows before ; " 

while apron-strings reminded, poetically, the ex-bache- 
lors 

" Of linked sweetness long drawn out." 

Indeed the population increased, and Texas flourished 
under this benign legislation of the early Solons of the 
Republic. 

The act of January 4, 1839, granted to heads of fam- 
ilies who might immigrate before January 1, 1840, 
640 acres, and to single men of the age of seventeen 
and upwards 320 acres, conditioned on a permanent 
residence of three years, and performing all the duties 
of citizens for that term. 

Seeing the splendid and beneficent effect of these 
headright grants, the great and good men who com- 



EISTORT OF TEXAS. 473 

posed the Congress of Texas, on tlie 16tli of Janu- 
ary, 1843, extended the time of these grants to im- 
migrants from the 1st of January, 1840, to the 1st of 
January, 1842. 

The law of December 14, 1837, creating the Gen- 
eral Land Office, also provided for the election, by 
joint vote of both houses of Congress, of a Board of 
Land Commissioners for each county, composed of a 
president and two associates, for the purpose of inves- 
tigating all claims on the government for headrights 
to lands, and granting GertijiGates to all persons by law 
entitled to them. 

This law was superseded by the act of January 26, 
1839, which made the chief justices of counties, the 
associate justices, and the county clerks, boards of 
land commissioners for their respective counties, sub- 
ject to the same laws prescribed for the action of the 
former boards. 

By the act of May 13, 1846, county courts were in- 
vested with all the powers of land commissioners. 

The acts of January 15, 1841, and January 16, 
1843, extended the authority of the chief justice and 
associate justices to issue certificates of headrights to 
immigrants. 

The act of February 7, 1853, provided that the 
functions of the various boards of land commissioners 
should cease December 31, 1853, but they were again 



474 mSTOBY OF texas. 

revived by tlie act of February 4, 1854, and by tlie 
law of January 8, 1862, the county courts were re- 
quired to take proofs and forward former reports on 
unconditional certificates, wbere, from neglect or 
other causes, tbey had not been entered and reported 
to the General Land Office. 

An appeal was allowed from the county court, as it 
had been from the boards of land commissioners, to 
the district court, hence many headright certificates 
were issued by the district courts of the various coun- 
ties on appeal, as well as under the act of February 
4, 1841, which gave them original jurisdiction for 
hearing cases and granting headright certificates to 
all persons by law entitled to them, who had not re- 
ceived them or who held certificates not recoinniended 
by the board of land commissioners appointed to 
detect fraudulent certificates. The acts of August 1, 
1856, January 16, 1858, February 16, 1858, and Feb 
ruary 7, 1860, gave the Commissioner of Land Claims 
the power to grant certificates to all persons entitled 
to them by law, who had not received them. 

The old Texans often bought and sold their homes, 
lands, and land certificates^ and from the value of the 
latter, wicked men who delight in evil deeds forged or 
caused the issuance of fraudulent certificates^ and sold 
or located them. When detected, these rascals expiated 
their crimes by serving in the penitentiary for a time 



EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 4^5 

not less tlian two nor more than five years. In order to 
checkmate these villains, the Travelling Boards of Land 
Commissioners to detect fraudulent land certificates 
were created January 29, 1840, whose duty it was to 
inspect the records of the various county boards of 
land commissioners, and from satisfactoiy evidence 
ascertain and report all genuine certificates to the 
General Land Office. This was done, and all the old 
genuine certificates and patented lands are now con- 
tained in printed books taken from the records of the 
General Land Office, including titles issued by the 
governments of Spain and Mexico, headrights issued 
by the district and supreme courts, by special laws, 
by the commissioner of claims, and bounty and dona- 
tion warrants issued by the Secretary of War and Ad- 
jutant-General. 

By laws passed December 6 and 10, 1836, June 9, 
December 3, 9, and 14, 1837, land serip was issued 
for hundreds of thousands of acres of land, and pat- 
ents authorized to be issued for the same. 

An act of January 26, 1839, granted three leagues 
of land to each county for the purpose of establish- 
ing a primary school or academy in every county 
in the republic. This act was repealed illegally by 
the present Constitution of the State. 

By acts of January 22, 1845, February 10, 1852, 
and February 7, 1853, pre-emptions of 320 acres were 



476 HISTORY OF TEXAS. • 

granted to actual settlers on tlie public domain, who 
had resided on and cultivated the same for three years. 

The 320 acres were reduced, by act of February 
13, 1854:, to 160 acres, which, by the law of August 
12, 1870, is still granted to heads of families, and 80 
acres to single men twenty-one years old, upon condi- 
tion that they select, locate, and occupy the same for 
three years. 

By law lands were granted to colonists introduced 
by Peters, Castro, Fisher <fe Miller, 640 acres to heads 
of families, and 320 acres to single men. 

The act of December 15, 1863, encouraged the 
erection of manufacturing establishments of iron, cot- 
ton, wool, fire-arms, nitre, sulphur, powder, paper, salt, 
oil, etc., granting 320 acres of land for every $1,000 so 
invested. 

For the encouragement of railroads to aid and fa- 
cilitate the development of the vast resources of Texas 
lying dormant in her immense forests and prairies, the 
Legislatures of 1854 and 1856 granted 10,240 acres 
of land per mile, and loaned $6,000 per mile, in money, 
at six per cent, interest per annum, for every mile of 
railroad to be constructed in the State. 

Since then grants of lands to railroad companies 
have been increased to 20 sections, or 12,800 acres per 
mile. 

By" the act of the 14th of December, 1837, each 



HISTORY UF TEXAS. 477 

surveyor was required, as soon as practicably, to make 
out or procure a 'rnajp of his county, on which plats 
of all the granted lands in each county should be 
made, so as to make a fair showing of the same. The 
acts of February 4 and 5, 1840, and May 11, 1846, 
more completely enforced this provision. Titles to 
land in Texas also emanate from sheriffs and tax-col- 
lectors. 

Unpaid judgments and taxes are liens upon the 
lands of persons owning them, but a judgment to 
bind land outside of the county where the judgment 
is obtained must be recorded in the county where the 
land lies if in a State court, but if in a United States 
court it binds only within the jurisdiction of the 
court. However, judgment liens become dormant un- 
less executions issue within twelve months from the 
date of judgments. 

So, notwithstanding, the amount of titled land and 
the various tenures by which it is held, the records of 
the district courts of the different countins of the 
State, wherein deeds of all kinds to land are required 
to be recorded in order to make liens or titles valid, 
the records of the United States courts in Texas, and 
the records of the General Land Office, whence all 
•patents emanate, afford very good evidence of good or 
bad titles to land in Texas. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

Mina, Bastrop. — The Colorado Valley.— Jones Rivers and Phil Claiborne. — ■ 
Brenham — with descriptions of Bastrop, Fayette, Washington, Nacog, 
doches, San Augustine, Sabine, Shelby, Panola and Harrison Counties. — ■ 
Scenes and Incidents. — Sam Graves, Tom Ochiltree, etc. 

T3 ASTROP is a pleasant little village nearly lialf- 
way between Austin and La Grange, on the Colo- 
rado River, containing about 1,000 or 1,500 inhabi- 
tants. 

It was first called Mina, but was afterwards re- 
named Bastrop, in honor of Baron de Bastrop, who 
gave to the corporation four leagues of land. 

The valley of the Colorado above and below Bas- 
trop is exceedingly rich and productive. The old 
stage route from Austin to La Grange crosses the river 
four times, and after travelling it and beholding the 
bounties of nature spread out before me, I have 
esteemed it as beautiful and as attractive as any other 
portion of Texas, abounding in fish and game, and 
flowing with milk and honey. 

In Bastrop resides the ancient friend and compan- 
ion of the celebrated Jones Rivers, renowned Phil 
Claiborne, who, as landlord and lawyer, as well as the 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 479 

beloved associate of Col. Rivers, commands historic 
attention. 

Many interesting stories are told of them, two of 
which are as follows : 

One morning, while at Georgetown attending conrt, 
they, with others, met in the hotel parlor, when Phil 
asked his friend : " How are you this morning, 
Jones ? " 

Col. Rivers, putting on a solemn countenance, 
answered : 

" Very well, I thank you, Phil ; but I had a very 
strange dream last night. I dreamed that I was dead 
and in heaven, and, to my astonishment, I saw you 
enter the heavenly kingdom." 

Phil exhibited great astonishment at this informa- 
tion, and earnestly requested his friend to tell him 
how he acted on the occasion. 

" Well, sir," answered Rivers, " you came in just 
about as you did into this parlor a moment ago, stepped 
up to Mr. Clay, and shaking him warmly by the hand, 
you said : ' Why, Henry Clay, how do you do ? ' 

" Then you shook Mr. Webster by the hand, 
saying : ' Why, Daniel Webster, how do you do ? ' 

"Then with equal familiarity you shook hands 
with John C. Calhoun, Gen. Jackson, George Wash- 
ington, and finally, pushing Gens. Houston and Rusk 
out of the way, saying, ' Sam ! Tom ! let me pass,' 



480 HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

you stepped up to the Saviour of the world, and, slap- 
ping him on the shoulder, exclaimed : ' Why, Jesus 
Christ, ole f el, how do you do ? I heard of you when 
I was a boy ! ' " 

A loud peal of his inimitable laughter was Phil's 
only answer to this story of Col. Rivers. 

Phil Claiborne never received a classical education, 
and it is said Col. Rivers used to amuse himself and 
the crowd by relating such stories as the following : 
"A party of us, including Henry Clay, Madam 
Le Vert, Mark Antony and his wife Susan B., left 
New Orleans by steamer for St. Louis. Everything 
went on very pleasantly — laughing, talking and play- 
ing whist until we got to Yicksburg, when Julius 
Csesar, Cleopatra, and old Tom Benton got on board, 
soon after which, old Tom, Mark Antony, Julius 
Caesar and myself went to playing seven-up for the 
whiskey and cigars. 

" We were playing the fourth game when Mark 
Antony, looking toward the ladies' cabin, exclaimed, 
pointing his finger in that direction, ' Great Jove ! 
look, Julius ! ' 

" CsBsar and all of us looked and beheld Henry 
Clay with his arm around Cleopatra, waltzing about 
the cabin in fine style ; and, Phil, it would have done 
you good to see the fire flash in old Caesar's eyes, for 
he was jealous and powerful fond of Cleopatra. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 481 

''In jumping to his feet, he overturned the table 
and made for Mr. Clay furiously, but as he entered 
the ladies' cabin, Madam Le Vert, with one of her 
irresistible smiles, motioned Csesar to take a seat by 
her side. He did so ; and, Phil, I never saw the supe- 
riority of our American women over the ladies of 
Rome more fully displayed than on this occasion ! 
Actually, sir, Madam Le Vert fascinated the whole 
party, and even caused Henry Clay to divide his atten- 
tion between her and Cleopatra, which made the wily 
Egyptian bite her lips in mortification and chagrin. 

" At Memphis, Daniel Webster and Mrs. Hemans 
came aboai'd, and I tell you what, Phil, there was 
more hugging and kissing and fun and frolic on the 
whole trip than I ever saw before." 

Here Phil interrupted his friend and wanted to 

know if Mrs. Hemans, the poetess, either kissed or 

hugged any one on the trip, and being informed that 

she was seen frequently to kiss and fall lovingly into 

,the arms of Mr. Webster, he remarked earnestly : 

"Well, Jones, I have a copy of Mrs. Hemans's 
; poems at home, and my wife and children have been 
reading it, but as soon as I get back, you may bet 
your bottom dollar I shall burn it up." 

Thus would Col. Rivers mingle ancient and modern 

historical celebrities in his stories for the amusement 

of his less erudite friend. 
- 21 



482 HI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 

Col. Claiborne is a true believer in tlie Bible and 
Christianity, and it is said of liim that, once on a time, 
being in the congregation of the faithful, he was called 
upon to exhort, when, drawing from his pocket a 
small Bible of about two by three inches in size, he 
read from the Sermon on the Mount : " Whatsoever 
ye would that men should do unto you, do you even 
so unto them." Then holding the Scriptures up be- 
fore the audience and turning over its sacred pages, 
he spoke as follows : 

" This book, my dying friends, is the Bible, and 
these are the words of Jesus Christ, who wrote as 
no man ever wrote and spoke as no man ever spoke, 
and I pledge you my word and honor as a gentle- 
man, the Bible is a good eg^^ and Jesus Christ is no 
sardine ! 

" He went about the world, not like a roaring lion 
seeking whom he might devour, but doing good — 
healing the wounded, curing the sick, consoling the 
unfortunate, changing water into wine, and command- 
ing us poor, erring mortals to drink it in remembrance 
of Him — God bless Him ! — and that we should inherit 
eternal life ! 

" Now, my friends, let us reason together. Sup- 
pose you lose all your property, you can work for 
more ; if you lose your wives you might marry again ! 
Were you to lose your children, you might get more : 



EI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 433 

but if you lose your immortal souls, up the spout you 

go!" 

Shortly after this exhibition of his piety, Phil met 

with some friends down-town, and after drinking hot 
Scotches and Tom and Jerries, he started home load- 
ed down to the guards; but on the way, becoming 
weary of his burden, he braced himself up against 
a horse-rack, and was throwing overboard his un- 
healthy cargo, when a passing friend came up and 
inquired ; 

" Phil, are you sick ? " 

Straightening himself up to his full height, he very 
contemptuously answered : 

" You must be a d d fool ! do you suppose I'm 

puking for fun ? " 

Arriving at his room he became deathly sick, when, 
moved by his abiding faith in the efficacy of prayer, 
he fell upon his knees and besought the Lord to 
spare his life and heal him, promising most solemnly 
never to get drunk again; at which moment the 
prayer of Jones Rivers from the next room came 
very distinctly to his ears, and was in efEect that 
the Lord should not hearken to Phil Claiborne's pe- 
tition and spare his life — if He did, Phil would be 
drunk again in less than a week, and would finally 
die in his sins ! " Take him now, O Lord ! " prayed 
Rivers, "while the boon most dear to Heaven, the 



484 EISTOET OF TEXAS. 

first tear of tlie repentant sinner, is in his eyes, or 
Phil Claiborne may be irrevocably lost ! " 

But as he once said to Judge Devine in behalf of 
this same friend, it is human to err and divine to for- 
give, the prayer of Col. Elvers ascended not higher 
than his head, and Phil Claiborne is still a living 
monument of God's mercy and compassion. 

BRENHAM AND WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

Wasliington, on the Brazos, once the capital of 
Texas, twenty miles northeast of Brenham, was the 
first county-seat of Washington County ; Mount Ver- 
non, five miles west of Brenham, was the second 
county-seat ; and Brenham, named in honor of Dr. 
Brenham, one of the unfortunate Texans who lost 
their lives in the ill-fated Mier expedition, was made 
the third, and laid ofE into a town in January, 
1844. 

It is beautifully located on sandy soil in the heart 
of one of the richest bodies of land in Texas, ninety- 
three miles east of Austin; and twenty-one miles west 
of Hempstead, on the western branch of the Houston 
and Texas Central Railroad. It contains about 
4,000 inhabitants, and although it has been nearly 
burnt up five times since the war, the first time by 
order of Lieut. G. W. Smith, conunander of the post in 
1866, yet it is now steadily improving. 



EI8T0ET OF TEXAS. 485 

In 1846, in the District Court of Washington 
County, Hon. R. E, Baylor presiding, the celebrated 
case of Coles vs. Kelsey was being tried, when Judge 
Baylor said to Three-Legged Willie, who was some- 
what under the influence of inspiring bold John Bar- 
leycorn and annoying to the court : 

" Mr. Williamson, take your seat, sir ! " 

Three Legs straightened himself up, and looking 
defiantly at Judge Baylor, said indignantly : " I sha'n't 
do it, sir ! " 

Judge Baylor calmly took up his pen and was in 
the act of imposing a fine for contemj)t, when Willie 
said: 

" Ah, sir ! I beg pardon of the court ! and as the 
court has ordered me to sit down I will do so, with 
the express understanding that I shall get up again ! " 
Then sitting down he exclaimed : " Now I'm down ! " 
and immediately rising, he exclaimed : " Now I'm up ! " 

The inimitable acting of the man caused the Judge 
to smile and the crowded court-house to roar with 
laughter. 

Nacogdoches, once the largest town in Texas, is 
pleasantly situated on sandy soil in the fork of the 
Lananas, two beautiful streams with gravelly beds, 
which, after uniting, flow into the Angelina. 

At present it contains about 1,500 inhabitants and 
is the county-seat of Nacogdoches County, one-half of 



486 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

whicli, the famous red land, is quite productive and 
well timbered, and is watered by the Carissa, Atas- 
cosa, Mast and Bear Creeks, which afford fine water- 
power, and upon which a few mills have been 
erected. 

Nacogdoches was settled about 1714, which the date 
on the old stone house attests, was depopulated in 1819 
during the invasion led by Gren. James Long,* and 
suffered much from the Fredonian war of 1827,f yet 
in 1835 it numbered 3,500 inhabitants. 

Here resided Generals Houston and Rusk, Henry 
Kaguet, and the lamented Col. James Reiley, who fell 
in battle at Franklin, Louisiana, nobly struggling for 
Southern rights. 



* Dr. James Long, of Natchez, with seventy-five follovyers, set out for 
Texas on the 17th June, 1819, was joined on the way by others, and on 
arriving at Nacogdoches his force was 300 men, with whom he took posses- 
sion of Nacogdoches and the surrounding country, proclaimed Texas free 
and organized a government. He visited Lafitte at Galveston and tried to 
get him to unite their forces. Lafitte declined. Long's forces were soon 
after attacked, defeated and expelled from the country, while he himself 
was captured, taken to the city of Mexico, and put to death. Thus ended 
this inglorious attempt to make a republic of Texas. 

f Li the Fredonian war " one man was kiMed and ten or twelve wounded. 
It consisted in the very slight resistance of the empresario, Hayden Ed- 
wards, to his expulsion from Texas by Gov. Blanco. Edwards tried to 
unite with the Indians but failed, and left the country. His contract was 
abrogated, and the territory embraced in it was divided between David Or. 
Burnet and Joseph Vehhn, as empresarios." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 487 

Here, in 1836, tlie pure-liearted, noble-minded, and 
dearly-beloved Southern hero, Robert E. Lee, was sta- 
tioned with his regiment of United States regulars, 
and here he was promoted from the rank of second to 
that of first lieutenant. 

The writer frequently met Gren. Lee while in San 
Antonio, and for some time ate at the same table with 
him while he was lieutenant-colonel, and was forcibly 
struck with the purity of his manners and the dignity 
of his bearing. 

After the war, his effoi-ts to restore harmony and 
good-will between Americans so exalted him in the 
estimation of the Northern people, as to draw fi'om a 
leading journal of New York City the very truthful 

compliment : 

* 

"Never did mother give birth to a nobler son." 

San Augustine, Sabine, and Shelby Counties, lying 
east of Nacogdoches County, partake of the same char- 
acter of soil and timber to be found in the latter, the 
timber consisting principally in pine, oak, and hickory. 
They are watered by the Attoyac, Patrone, To wash, 
Flat Fork, Caney, and other rippling perennial 
streams. 

Panola and Harrison Counties, lying north of Shel- 
by, are also fine farming and cotton-growing sections, 
but Carthage, the county -seat of Panola, is not quite 



488 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

SO populous as its namesake, tlie old rival of Kome, 
was, nor is Marshall, formerly styled the Athens of 
Texas, so large as Jefferson, fifteen miles north of it, 
although the great eastern depot and machine-shop of 
the Texas Pacific Railroad has been located there. 

But Marshall is a distinguished place, for here Gov- 
ernors Henderson, Clark, and Murrah, Wigf all, Ochil- 
tree, Jennings, Mills, Hill, Frazier, Adams, Mahone, 
Poag, Pope, and other distinguished members of the 
Texas bar once lived, and on the rostrum and from the 
press eloquently uttered 

" Thoughts that breathe, and words that bum." 
" Their tongues 
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appea" 
The better reason, to perplex and dash 
Maturest counsels." 

Here took place the celebrated game of poker be- 
tv^een his Honor John T. Mills and Governor Hender- 
son, vrherein several hundred dollars and a new trial 
in the Snowdon case were said to have been lost and 
won on the same hand. 

At any rate, in the morning, after taking his seat on 
the bench, the first order made by his Honor, and that, 
too, without solicitation from any one, was for a new 
trial in the Snowdon case. 

In Marshall still resides that amiable associate, good 
citizen, and indulgent father, Judge George B. Ad- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 489 

kins, a fair sample of the old Texas gentleman^ who, 
many years ago, wliile holding court np-stairs, was 
annoyed by a game of faro going on down- stairs. 
After ordering the sheriff to stop the game, and being 
informed of the refusal of the sportsmen to obey his 
order, he adjourned his court for fifteen minutes, and 
being experienced in the game, commenced betting, 
and within the fifteen minutes broke the bank and 
again opened his court, which thereafter was not dis- 
turbed by the broken gamblers. 

Here I first met that rara avis in terris, the golden- 
haired hero and most celebrated and inimitable story 
teller, Tom Ochiltree, whose name is familiar not only 
in Texas and the United States, but also in England,- 
France, Germany, and the other great nations of the 
world. When but a boy, Tom gave promise of his 
future grand financial ideas in dealing faro from an 
old sardine-box to his associate urchins, and refusing 
to turn for less than a dime. 

" Who put that ar five-center down there ? " he in- 
dignantly inquired. 

" I put it there, Tom," answered one • of the little 
fellows. 

" Well, you take it up," rejoined Tom, " for I sha'n't 
turn for less nor a dime ! " 

It is said that Major Ochiltree killed more men 

and went through more close places than almost any 
21* 



490 niSTOBY OF TEXAS. 

other officer of the lost cause. I have heard him 
speak 

" Of most disastrous chances, 

Of moving accidents, by flood and field, 

Of hair-breadth 'scapes, i' the imminent deadly breach ;" 

how he had two horses killed under him at Yal 
Verde, and was blown forty feet in the air, but came 
down unharmed, lit upon his feet, mounted another 
horse, and charged home to victory ! how, in one of 
the battles 'round Richmond, he had slaughtered 
thirty-eight Yanks that he got, besides cutting off 
with his sword a wagon-load of arms and ears ; how 
he punched Stonewall Jackson in the ribs with his 
sabre, and waking him up, inquired ; " Ole hoss, 
where is Gen. Jackson ? " And then how small he 
felt when Stonewall exclaimed : " I am Gen. Jackson, 
what do you wish ? " 

Everybody has heard his story of the Arkansas 
girl who listened with tearful eyes to his touching ac- 
count of the death of her dear brother who died in 
his arms, and with his dying breath spoke of his 
mother and sister in Arkansas — and how, when she 
inquired his name and he answered : " Major Ochil- 
tree," she exclaimed in astonishment : " What ! Tom 
Ochiltree ! " and then upon his answering her af- 
firmatively, how she smiled, wiped away her tears, 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 49 X 

and pleasantly said : " Well, if you are Tom Ochil- 
tree, it's all right ! My brother is still alive " — so I 
will not repeat it. 

It is reported that he was bearer of despatches from 
Gen. Sibley to Richmond, giving accounts of the bat- 
tles of Val Verde, Griorietta, and other engagements, 
and after an audience with Mr. Davis, at which Gren. 
Wigf all was present, when Tom retired, Mr. Davis in- 
quired of Wigfall : 

" Who is he ? " Wigfall answered : " Major Ochil- 
tree." Mr. Davis rejoined: "I know that as well as 
you do. But he's from your state. Who is Major 
Ochiltree ? " 

" Well, sir," answered Wigfall, " he is a man who 
would tell a story on credit rather than tell the truth 
for cash." 

" But what I wish to know of you. Gen. Wigfall, 
is, is he a reliable man ? " again asked Mr. Davis. 

" Keliable ! Yes, sir ! " answered Wigfall, " he can 
outlie and outveliQ any man you ever saw." 

Major Ochiltree's amiable manners and very inter- 
esting conversational powers have made him fi-iends 
everywhere, including Gen. Grant, whose appointment 
of him to be United States marshal was not at all 
distasteful to the good people of Eastern Texas. 

As an ordinary sample of his story-telling, a recent 
instance is here inserted from the New Yorh Herald: 



492 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

" Sabatoga, July 30, 1874. 

" Said Mr. James Valentine to Dr. Quackenbos on 
tlie quarter-stretcli to-day : 

" ' It is just fifty years since Eclipse and Henry ran 
their great four-mile race on Long Island. It was a 
Tuesday in May. I crossed tlie East River on a tread- 
mill boat, worked by a mule in Harness.' ^ Yes,' said 
Dr. Quackenbos, ' there was not a steam- vessel on the 
water. I went over in a periauger.'' 

" ' I went over on a raft,' said Tom Ochiltree, of 
Texas. ' I had to run off from school to see the race. 
Society has changed very much since.' 

' You,' said all, ' why, how old are you, Tom ? ' 

^' ' Threescore and ten,' exclaimed the United States 
marshal in question. 

" Valentine drew a long sigh. ' Well,' said he, look- 
ing at Tom profoundly, ' I'm afraid I wasn't there.' " 

For the information of parents and guardians who 
may wish to cure their children and wards of stretching 
the blanket too thin, I will relate how Mrs. Grraves, a 
venerable Christian mother, who lived twenty miles 
from Marshall, on the road to Shreveport, cured her 
son Sam. 

After Sam married and had become the father of 
three or four children, he took up his gun one day, 
and going through the woods, a mile or two from his 
residence, to his father's house, killed several squir- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 493 

rels, and, in giving an account of Ms liunt to his 
mother, said that he had seen at least one hundred 
squirrels upon one tree. 

After dinner Sam retired to his old dormitory, and 
was soon sound asleep, when his mother came in with 
ropes and very gently, but unbeknowenst to Sammy, 
tied both hands and feet to the bed-posts ; then with 
a whip she came down on Sam with all her might. 

Sam begged and implored, but his mother kept on 
whipping him, once in a while exclaiming : " A hun- 
dred squirrels upon one tree, Sammy ! " 

" 'Fore God, mother, there were at least fifty ! " 

" Too many my son ! " exclaimed Mrs. Graves, as she 
continued the flogging. 

Sam next fell to twenty-five. " Too many, my boy ! " 
said his mother, and her castigation continued until 
Samivel came down to " at least three or four, mother," 
when she stopped and untied him. 

Mrs. Graves then informed the gentleman that, be- 
ing her only son, she had neglected to correct him too 
long and too often ! Her conscience smote her for it, 
and that what she had done was from a sense of im- 
perative duty to bring about his reformation and 
eternal salvation. 

Mrs. Graves' plan worked like a charm, and Sam 
Graves became one of the most truthful and reliable 
men in Harrison County. 



494 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

As the providence of God has deprived Major 
Ochiltree of both father and mother, it is to be hoped 
that, like the pious monks of old, he will administer to 
himself the castigation necessary for his reformation, 
and thus gladden the hearts of his numerous friends 
and secure his ovrn everlasting happiness. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Galveston, Brazoria, Matagorda, Wharton and Fort Bend. — Houston, 
Jefferson, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Hempstead, Plantersville, 
"Waller, Graines, Montgomery and Walker Coimties. — Ike Baker, Jim 
Pinkston, Joe Bates, the Bell-men, etc. 

/^ ALVESTON", the great port of entry and lar- 
^-^ gest city in Texas, containing some 35,000 or 
40,000 inhabitants, the fourth cotton depot in the 
South — New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston only 
excelling it — ^is situated on the east end of the island 
of the same name, which is about twenty -seven miles 
long, and where the city stands is about one mile 
wide. 

This " beautiful isle of the sea " was selected and 
fortified by the notorious pirate Lafitte as his strong- 
hold, to which he fled for safety when attacked by 
superior numbers, and whither he carried the vessels, 
cargoes and prisoners captured on the main. How 
many beautiful captive maidens were here forced to 
live and endure the horrid companionship of rude 
pirates, far away from the parental roof ! And how 
often the poor victims sighed for the realization of 
the poet's ideal of earthly happiness when he sung : 



496 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

"There is a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told, 

When two that are linked in one heavenly tie, 
With heart never changing and brow never cold, 

Love on through all ills, and love on till they die ! 
One hour of a passion so sacred is worth 

Whole ages of heartless and wondering bliss ; 
And, oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth, 

It is this ! it is this ! " 

may be rather imagined tlian described. 

Lafitte was represented as a tall, symmetrically- 
formed man, witli pleasant address and agreeable 
manners. Just before the battle of New Orleans, on 
the 8th of January, 1815, he was offered £30,000 
sterling, a post-captaincy, with the command of a 
frigate in the British navy, if he would join Lord 
Packenham on that famous occasion. 

Lafitte declined the oif er of the British Government, 
enclosed the written proposition to Gov. Claiborne, 
of Louisiana, with whom he was then at variance, of- 
fering his services to the United States, in considera- 
tion of a pardon and amnesty for himself and follow- 
ers for all past offences, which proposition was ac- 
cepted, when he joined Gen. Jackson in the defence of 
New Orleans, and participated in the glorious victory 
of American valor achieved over British discipline on 
the plains of Chalmette. 

But his habits were formed^ and no angel gave 
either to him or his followers that toond/i^ous potency 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 497 

to change tlieir abandoned, odious, sensual, and pirati- 
cal lives, and although for his services against the 
British his past crimes were overlooked, he and his 
followers, with the pardon of the President of the 
United States in their pockets, again returned to 
piracy on the high seas, were detected, and ordered, 
in 1821, to leave Galveston Island, which they for- 
ever abandoned in that year. 

After the departure of Lafitte, the island was occu- 
pied by the Tonkaway Indians for fishing purposes, 
when tired of eating buffalo, Comanche, and other 
animal food. 

From 1821 to the Texas revolution, the island was 
mostly thus occupied, when the God-and-liberty-lov- 
ing Mexicans established thereon a custom-house, and 
called the place Galveston, in honor of a distinguished 
Greaser named Galvez. 

Velasco, at the mouth of the Brazos, and Anahuac, 
at the head of the bay, had fairer prospects at first of 
being the great port of Texas, than Galveston. 

It was only after the victorious Texans, under Gen. 
Houston, had made the plains of San Jacinto immor- 
tal, and avenged the Alamo and Goliad, that fame 
trumpeted abroad, in terms of the highest praise, the 
beauty, fertility and productiveness of the soil and 
the salubrity of the climate* — then Galveston com- 
menced growing. 



49'8 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Young men of daring and enterprise came from 
Massacliusetts, Vermont, New York, Connecticut, and 
even tlie State of New Jersey gave to Galveston 
several very good citizens, David and D. The. Ayres, 
araono; them. From Democratic Connecticut alone 
came E. S. Wood, Joe and William Hendley, George 
and Albert Ball, Ashbel Smith, Munson Hitchcock, 
Stephen South wick, and that accomplished jurist and 
ripe scholar, laughter-loving Frank Merriman. The 
Nestorian Dr. Levi, the Hon. J. B. and Jeff. Jones — ■ 
the amiable editors and publishers of the JVews and 
Civilian, Hamilton Stuart and Willard Richardson — 
the Ballengers, Jacks, R. and D. G. Mills, the great 
bankers of Texas, and thousands of others, soon made 
Galveston a sober, industrious, and orderly city, ex- 
porting produce amounting to more than $2o, 000,000 
annually. 

It is amusing to hear old Texans relate little 
incidents which took place at an early day, and 
hoping to give the reader cause for a smile, I 
will relate one on Frank Merriman, in which 
Uncle Stephen Southwick and Judge Swett were 
actors. 

Frank had just arrived from pious. God-fearing 
New England, and was perfectly ignorant of " draw 
poker," but having learned never to trump his part- 
ner's ace, and being a first-rate " seven-up " player, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 499 

when Southwick and Swett insisted on a game of 
" draw," lie assented, and asked to be shown how the 
game was played. 

After being informed that the higher cards beat 
the lower cards, and that pairs of higher cards beat 
pairs of lower cards, and so on, the game commenced, 
and Frank was soon piling up and taking do^wn, and 
enjoying himself hngely, when finally he got four 
aces. Swett held four "trays." Frank, after betting 
right sharply, " called " Swett, who, showing his hand, 
said : " Well, Mr. Merriman, I guess I've got you this 
time ! I have four trays." 

Whereupon Frank threw down his four aces, ex- 
claimino:, " Confound the luck, when I have ones or 
twos somebody else has threes or fours ! " 

Swett quietly raked down the money, and the game 
went on. 

In the Rev. Doctor Eaton's church the next day 
Uncle Stephen went to sleep, and when the baskets 
were passed around for contributions, the collector 
partially waked him, and held out the basket, when 
Uncle Stephen, not fully aroused, spoke out loud 
enough for the whole congregation to hear him, " Oh, 
Swett, I pass, I do ! " 

On one occasion Mr. Southwick ran for the mayor- 
alty of Galveston, and after going to every voter, all 
of whom he knew, and asking their votes, he expressed 



500 BISTORT OF TEXAS. 

himself as perfectly confident of Ms election by a 
majority of 350 votes. 

However, wlien the votes were counted out, Uncle 
Stephen lacked just that number of being elected, and 
being laughed at by his friends, exclaimed : 

" Well, I've got the satisfaction of knowing 350 
d — d liars ! sure as my name is Stephen Southwick ! " 

During the late civil war, Galveston was attacked 
and captured twice, one time by the Federals, the 
other by the Confederates, wherein a father and son 
fought on opposing sides; the son, Lieut. Lee, was 
killed on the Harriet Lane., and the grief -stricken 
father, who was a graduate of West Point, partici- 
pated in his funeral obsequies — ^possibly slew his own 
son ! 

God shield our country forever from another civil 
war ! 

West of Galveston are the great sugar counties of 
Texas, Brazoria, Matagorda, Fort Bend, and Wharton, 
watered by the Brazos, Old Caney, San Bernard, Col- 
orado and other streams. 

The land of these counties is very rich and pro- 
ductive, but not so valuable now as before the war, 
as they were then made productive by the forced 
labor of the sable-colored sons of injured Africa, who 
since their emancipation are, in many instances, op- 
posed to regular labor or continued physical exertion. 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 501 

In Brazoria, Mr. S. F. Austin lived and died, and 
liere lives Capt. Robt. J. Calder, wlio was at San 
Jacinto, and as sheriff of Brazoria arrested tke noto- 
rious Monroe Edwards. 

On Old Caney lives tlie venerable Capt. Jolin Dun- 
can, an eighty-year-old Texan, and his estimable 
neighbor, John Hugely. The gallant Erasmus Smith 
lived and died in Richmond, where now survive the 
genial-hearted, amiable and accomplished Dr. G. A. 
Feris, E-andolph Foster, the oldest living Texan, and 
T. J. Smith, of Fannin's command, spared because he 
was a blacksmith. 

The section of country embraced within these four 
counties is destined within a few years to be one of 
the garden spots of the tvorld. 

HOUSTON. 

Houston, the second city in size and importance in 
Texas, and famous for its notable, as well as very dis- 
tinguished and highly creditable State Fairs, was 
surveyed and laid off into lots by John K. and A. C. 
Allen in 1836, soon after the battle of San Jacinto, 
and named after Gen. Sam Houston. 

It is the great railroad centre of Texas, and is con- 
nected by rail with Galveston, Columbia on the Bra- 
zos, Columbus on the Colorado, Luling, Waco, Dallas, 
Denison, Austin, Palestine, Marshall, Jefferson, and 



502 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

all intermediate cities and towns, many of consider- 
able mercantile importance. 

The Bayou City., as it is frequently called, is situa- 
ted on Buffalo Bayou, about fifty miles northwest of 
Galveston, has about twenty thousand inhabitants,- 
and besides its very creditable schools and churches 
can justly be proud of its two very successful manu- 
facturing establishments of cotton and woollen goods, 
the Mureka and City mills. 

The merchants of Houston do considerable business 
with interior merchants, and calculate when they 
complete the shijf) channel, so that ocean steamers 
can come up to Houston as easy as they can enter 
Galveston Bay, which scientific engineers say can be 
done, to compete with Galveston as to future growth 
and commercial importance. 

It was here duiing the war that Gen. Magruder 
established his head-quarters, cast cannon, and organ- 
ized his famous attack and capture of Galveston. 

From Houston Gen. Tom Green and his gallant 
soldiers sailed on their frail little boat down the 
bayou, in sight of San Jacinto, through the bay, up 
to the Harriet Lane., boai'ded and captured her ! and 
thus Galveston. 

As the little vessel passed the memorable battle- 
ground, and the lamented hero beheld the plain 
whereon, twenty-seven years before, he and his com- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 503 

rades, manfully contending against superior numbers, 
liad gained a glorious victory and made the Republic 
of Texas an independent nation — tbouglit lie of the 
fearful battle-cry of the Texans : ^^ Remeniber the 
Alamo ! " or of the appealing shriek of the poor de- 
feated Mexicans: "J^ no Almnof'' or of the dear 
ones at home, who were soon to lose dear brother, 
kind father, and tender husband ? 

Alas, that one so useful, beloved and needed by 
friends, country, and family, should be killed in the 
moment of victory ! 

The reader will pardon this passing tribute of 
respect to one of the bravest soldiers and most accom- 
plished officers who fought and died for the lost cause., 
and I will relate the following Houstonian anecdote :: 

During our late civil war, which Gen. Houston, 
opposed, many of his old friends, among them the, 
genial hearted Frank Lubbock, and other good Con- 
federates, did not speak kindly of the old hero, but iu 
order to counteract his influence against the harmony 
and union of Texans in support of the Southern Con- 
federacy, said things which excited his wrath and 
brought forth the following evidence of his sarcastic 
powers. 

Coming up one night on the steamer Diana from 
Gralveston to Houston, he called to the steward sev- 
eral times and asked, when the boat stopped : 



504 EI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 

" What place is tMs, steward ? " 

On arriving at the Bayou City, when the boat 
stopped, not knowing where he was, he repeated his 
inquiry, and was answered : " Houston." 

" Houston ! " said the old general, " Houston ! Oh 
yes, I recollect now. I raised some pups in Houston 
— they have grown to be big dogs, and now when I 
walk out, they bark at me ! " 

JEFFERSON. 

The sixth city of Texas, numbering more than 
8,000 inbabitants, is Jefferson, situated on Cypress 
Bayou, at the head of navigation. 

Jefferson, since the war, was almost entirely burned, 
but has been rebuilt with more substantial and ele- 
gant structures — more than 150 new brick stores 
have been erected in the place of the wooden ones 
consumed by the fire. 

In 1869 Jefferson shipped to New Orleans about 
eighty thousand bales of cotton, besides an immense 
quantity of wool, hides, tallow, beeswax, etc., etc. 

The whole of Northern Texas^ from Dallas on the 
Trinity to Fulton, Arkansas, traded with Jefferson, 
bringing down cotton, flour, pork, wool, hides, beeves, 
etc., etc., and carrying back in their wagons supplies 
of clothing, machinery, farming utensils, and other 
articles of merchandise. 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 505 

The people of Jefferson aided in tlie construction 
of the Texas and Pacific Railroad from Longview to 
Texarkana, but this road and the Central now supply 
the vast country with merchandise, which was for- 
merly tributary to Jefferson^ the trade of which has 
in consequence decreased immensely. 

" So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, 
Ko more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart, 
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart. " 

The country near Jefferson abounds in iron ore of 
the finest quality, of which veiy fine stoves and ploughs, 
as well as all manner of castings, are made. As the 
great source of wealth to the people of Marion County, 
this inexhaustible supply of ore should be properly 
and immediately appropriated, so as to supply all 
Texas with home-made iron goods. 

A few miles from Jefferson on Soda Lake, through 
which the Cypresses fiow into Red River, is the 
famous promontory jutting out into the lake, over- 
looking the surrounding country for miles, called Pot- 
ter's Point, in honor of the celebrated Robert Potter, 
Secretary of the Texas Navy, who, from its dense for- 
est abounding in game and cool fountains of pure 
water and splendid facilities for fishing and ducking, 

selected it as his home. Here he hunted, fished, and 

22 



506 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

killed ducks to his heart's content, and then retired to 
his library and indulged his fondness for reading. 

He was a rare genius — gifted and eloquent. No 
other member of the Texas Congress did Gen. Hous- 
ton fear ,, so much as Col. Potter, who had all the 
English poets at his tongue's end, was an expert 
logician, quick at repartee, fluent, and at the same 
time a fine actor. 

The story of his death runs as follows : 

For some time there had been war between him- 
self and his followers, and Capt. Wm. P. Kose and 
his friends. 

One morning after daylight, but before sunrise, Col. 
Potter and his party galloped up to Rose's house, and 
surrounding it expected to capture him. On search- 
ing the house, they found the bed still warm where 
he had slept during the night, but Capt. Eose was 
gone ! He was an early riser and was out in the 
new ground with the negroes clearing^ and seeing his 
enemies approach, he laid down on the ground and 
ordered his slaves to cover him all over with brush, 
and in order to prevent any suspicion of his presence, 
to set the heap on fir e^ which they did, and as Potter 
and his party approached seeing no place of conceal- 
ment except the burning brush Jieap^ they went away, 
when although somewhat scorched, he crawled out 
from his hiding-place, mounted his horse, hastily sum- 



\ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 507 

moned Ms partisans, and next morning attacking Pot- 
ter, surrounded him in his house. 

Col. Potter aroused and conscious of his danger 
broke through his enemies, plunged headlong into the 
lake, dived and swam for dear life, but as he raised 
his head above the water to get breath, it was riddled 
with bullets.* 

Thus perished Col. Robert Potter ! but Potter's 
Point still remains, and is one of the most pleasant 
resorts for fishing, hunting, and ducldng in all 
Texas. 

SAN ANTONIO. 

In 1682, the same year that Wm. Penn and his 

* Dickens, in his "American Notes," thus quotes the tragedy: 

" Terrible Death of Robert Potter. — From the Gaddo Gazette of 

the 13th inst. we learn the frig-htful death of Col. Robert Potter 

He was beset in his house by an enemy, named Rose. He sprang- from his 
couch, seized his gun, and in his night-clothes rushed from the house. For 
about two hundred yards his speed seemed to defy his pursuers ; but, get- 
ting entangled in a thicket, he was captured. Rose told him that he in- 
tended to act a generous part, and give him a chance for his life. He then 
told Potter he might run, and he should not be interrupted tiU he reached 
a certain distance. Potter started at the word of command, and before a 
gun was fired he had reached the lake. His first impulse was to jump in 
the water and dive for it, which he did. Rose was close behind him, and 
formed his men on the bank ready to shoot him as he rose. In a few 
seconds he came up to breathe ; and scarce had his head reached the sur- 
face of the water when it was completely riddled with the shot of their guns, 
and he sank to rise no more." 



508 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Quaker followers laid out tlie beautiful site of Phila- 
delphia, between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, 
about fifty Spanish families from the Philippine Is- 
lands, headed by the Navarros, Grarzas, Leals, Rodri- 
guezes, Perezes, Manchacas and others, landed upon 
the coast of Texas, and, wending their way up the 
country, were captivated by two beautiful streams, 
between which they settled, calling one the San Anto- 
nio and the other San Pedro, where they laid out a city 
into lots with very irregular streets, and named it San 
Antonio, which to day is the third city in size in Texas, 
containing about eighteen thousand persons. 

San Antonio has five streams of water running 
through it, and is a remarkably healthy and flourish- 
ing city ; its colleges, schools, and churches bear evi- 
dence that its citizens are great lovers of learning and 
morality. 

Near the heart of the city stands that antique 
but memorable structure, known in history as the 
Alamo ^ where Crockett, Bowie, and their heroic fol- 
lowers fought theii' last fight, and gave to Texas his- 
torians the right to record truthfully : 

" Thermopylse had its messenger, 
The Alamo had none ! " 

No monument marks their tomb. They were de- 
nied sepulture. Their bodies were burned and their 



EI8T0EY OF TEXAS. . 509 

ashes scattered to the winds of heaven, but their 
names will live in history and song as the bravest of 
the brave, so long as Americans continue to love 
deeds of noble daring and heroic achievement, or so 
long as the beautiful San Antonio River with arrowy 
swiftness shall continue to flow by the Alamo and 
Goliad, and mingle its waters with those of the 
Gulf. 

Below San Antonio on the river are the celebrated 
Missions of Es^yada, San Juan, San Jose, and Oon- 
cepczon, erected more than a century ago, which from 
their ancient style of sculpture, structure, and archi- 
tecture never fail to repay the strangers' visit. 
These missions were built by pious Spanish priests, in 
which to fight as well as pray ; to Christianize the 
wild savages, and to be used as forts when attacked. 

After railroad communication is established be- 
tween San Antonio and the rest of the world, its 
commerce, trade, population, and wealth must neces- 
sarily increase ; wherefore San Antonians should aid 
and encourage the speedy completion of the Interna- 
tional and Mexican Gulf Railroads, with all their 
might, amity, and resources. 

AUSTIN. 

Austin, the capital of Texas, contains about twelve 
thousand inhabitants, is beautifully situated on the 



510 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Colorado River, was surveyed in 1839, and made tlie 
seat of government in 1840, when tlie Indians in tlie 
neighboring mountains were as thick as leaves in 
Valambrosa. 

It has more hills than the Eternal City, and hence 
its cognomen City of Hills, high above all of which 
Mount Bonnell rears its lofty head, looking down with 
complacent grandeur and dignity upon the sparkling 
waters of the river at its base. 

The following legend of the Colorado Valley was 
related to me years ago by that reliable gentleman, 
good citizen, and gallant soldier, George L. Robert- 
son: 

" Mount Bonnell was called by the early settlers of 
Colorado Valley Antonette's Leap, which was given 
to it in consequence of the self-immolation on that 
picturesque spot, at an early day, of a most lovely and 
accomplished young senorita, who came over from 
Spain at the first settlement of the Missions of San 
Jose, San Juan, Espada, and the Alamo. 

" The fame of Antonette's beauty and intellectual 
charms was spread abroad through the settlements, 
and even extended to the hunting-ground and camp- 
fires of the red men of the forest, till it came to the 
ears and inflamed the passions of Cibolo, the chief of 
the Comanches, who selected a band of his favorite 
warriors, made a raid upon the settlements, captured 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. ^i^ 

tlte beautiful Antonette, and carried her far away to 
his camp in the wilderness, on the head- waters of the 
Colorado. 

" The parents and friends of the unfortunate seno- 
rita mourned her as lost forever, except Don Leal 
Navarro Rodriquez, her betrothed lover, a brave and 
elegantly educated young Spanish caballero, of fine 
personal appearance and honorable, as well as brave 
to a fault, who determined to follow the murderous 
Indians to their home and rescue his beloved Anto- 
nette, or perish in the attempt. 

" Don Leal mounted his favorite steed, and, well 
armed, started from the Alamo alone in pursuit of the 
Indians, and after many hair-breadth escapes, undis- 
covered^ descried the camp of the savages, and selecting 
a dark night, he entered it, and by imitating the mock- 
ing-bird, of which Antonette was very fond, and whose 
singing they could both imitate to perfection, he soon 
discovered what spot inside the encampment she was, 
then came into the very tent which she occupied, and 
found her tied securely to prevent her escape. 

" In an instant the lover severed the bonds which 
confined the dear idol of his heart and with her 
cautiously returned to where he had left his horse 
when he entered the Comanche camp ; then quickly 
mounting and taking Antonette up behind him, he 
started to regain the Mission of the Alamo. 



512 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

" The fury of Cibolo in the morning, when he dis- 
covered the escape of his fascinating captive, knew 
no bounds. He raved and blasphemed terribly ; then 
sounding the alarm, with an hundred chosen warriors, 
he hastily started in pursuit, leaving the main body of 
his tribe to await his return. 

" For several days Don Leal and his beloved Anto- 
nette made good speed towards the settlements, sub- 
sisting most bountifully upon game, which was easily 
obtained through Don Leal's rifle, and at night sleep- 
ing under the forest trees ; but on the seventh day, 
leaving the prairie land, they became entangled in the 
mountains bordering the Colorado, and early in the 
morning of the eighth day the lovers discovered them- 
selves surrounded upon all sides by the cruel savages 
and all attempts at further flight entirely hopeless. 

" The wrathful Cibolo, with cow horns on his head 
and face horribly painted, advanced in all the 
pride of power to where they had fled as a last refuge, 
but when about fifty yards off, Don Leal, who had 
firmly resolved to fight and die rather than surrender, 
raised his rifle to his shoulder, and taking deliberate 
aim, fired ! In an instant the savage chief bounded 
into the air and then fell to the ground a corpse ; but 
in another instant at least twenty arrows pierced his 
own body, and he too fell to the earth and expired 
without a groan. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 513 

" After surveying tlie situation, and revolving in 
her mind the miserable fate awaiting her from the mer- 
ciless Comanches, the emptiness and \anity of human 
life compared with the ineffable joys of Paradise, the 
poor, unfortunate girl bent over the prostrate and life- 
less form of her lover, kissed his dear li])s, and then 
rising, with her eyes toward heaven and murmuring 
her last prayer to God, she plunged headlong down 
the precipice and struck the rocks beneath, mangled, 
bleeding, and dead ! 

" For a long time the place where these rare, devot- 
ed but most unfortunate lovers met their sad and un- 
timely fate was called ' Antonette's Leap,' but years 
ago a wandering Bohemian, who happened to pass a 
few days in Austin, ambitious of fame or notoriety as 
Herostratus, or emulating the example of Americus 
Vespucius, whose presumptuous vanity cheated Colum- 
bus out of his just glory, blotted it out and substituted 
his own, and now Antonette's Leap is Mount Bonnell 
just as certainly as Columbia is America." 

As an evidence of the abundance of game formerly 
on the Colorado, I will relate an incident in the early 
history of Austin : 

One morning an emigrant, answering to the familiar 

name of Adams, walked into the most popular hotel 

of the place, then kept by Capt. Swisher, the father 

of that amiable gentleman, good citizen, and well- 
22* 



514 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

known Austinian, Col. Milt Swisher, and engaged 
board by the month, agreeing to pay for it in turkeys, 
at fifty cents each — making the contract and eating 
his dinner he walked up the valley of the river and 
being very expert at throwing rocks, in that way 
killed six wild turkeys, which he brought home and 
turned over to his landlord. 

In the morning he went out again and about dinner 
time returned with seven which he had killed in the 
same way. At night he returned with another load, 
when Capt. Swisher said to him : 

" Mr. Adams, you have overstocked me with turkeys. 
Don't kill any more for a few days." 

Mr. Adams paid his board regularly in wild turkeys, 
and ever afterwards went by the soubriquet of Tur- 
hey Adams. 

For some time after the capital was removed to 
Austin the Indians were very troublesome, making 
frequent raids on the settlements, killing and robbing 
without mercy. 

On one occasion Capt. Billy Wilson, with a party of 
young men, including Col. Jack Baylor, who relates 
the story, pursued them for three days, without rest 
or food, and overtook them on the head-waters of the 
Yegua, near Austin. 

Just before the Indians, who were retreating at 
their utmost speed, reached the timber, one of them, to 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 5X5 

facilitate Ms speed and escape death, being left behind, 
cut loose a large piece of raw meat, and letting it fall 
to the ground continued his flight. Col. Baylor and 
his companions saw this operation, and being exceed- 
ingly hungry, stopped, lighted a fire, cooked and com- 
menced eating the captured meat. 

When Capt. Wilson, who rode a safe rather than a 
swift horse, and was behind, came up, and saw them 
devouring the captured property, he being hungry 
himself, exclaimed : 

" Great God ! that meat is poisoned ! you'll all be 
dead in fifteen minutes ! Run down to the creek and 
drink just as much water as you can, to kill the 
poison ! " 

Baylor and his young Indian hunters heard and 
obeyed their chief, but as they returned to the spot 
they beheld their commander as he was swallowing the 
last particle of the captured meat, who, wiping his 
mouth with his sleeve, exclaimed, with a cunning 
smile : " Well, boys, we'll all die together ! I have 
Msted in what you left ! " 

DALLAS. 

No city in Texas or the south has grown so fast in 
the last year as Dallas, which is beautifully situated 
on the Trinity River, at the junction of the Texas 
Pacific Railroad with the Houston and Texas Central. 



516 EIST0R7 OF TEXAS. 

This city was settled in 1842, by Colonel John 
Neely Bryan, and named in honor of Commodore 
Dallas, of the United States Navy, while the county 
was named after George M. Dallas. 

In 1846 the Legislature made it the temporary 
county-seat, and in 1850 it became permanently so by 
the vote of the people. 

In 1846, when the writer passed round it, there 
were but about thirty or forty inhabitants, but in a 
few years afterwards, when it became the permanent 
county-seat, many houses and much improvement were 
added to it. 

In 1860 all the business portion of the city was 
burned, and the war coming on after, there was a stand- 
still, while the fierce and bloody strife between Ameri- 
cans called many of its citizens to the tented field and 
the soldier's grave. 

Not until 1868 and 1869 did Dallas again com- 
mence to improve, but in July, 1872, the Houston and 
Texas Central reached it, followed, in August, 1873, 
by the Texas Pacific, and then came the era of im- 
provement and progress. 

Many large, fine brick stores and residences have 
sprung up like magic, while a second bridge, for the 
Texas and Pacific Railroad, will soon span the river. 
A court-house has been built of stone at a cost of 
about one hundred thousand dollars, and the popula- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 517 

tion to-day seeras to be not less tlian ten thousand 
souls, and is rapidly increasing, while Dallas County, 
with its springs of pure, clear water, rich and produc- 
tive lands, is gaining population and wealth daily. 

As the city of Dallas is about the centre of one of 
the finest wheat, cotton and corn growing counties of 
Texas, of which about one-third is timber and two- 
thirds prairie land, capable of producing a bale of 
cotton, or from twenty-five to thirty bushels of wheat, 
or from thirty-five to fifty bushels of corn, or from 
forty to sixty bushels of oats to the acre ; as it is soon 
to have two more railroads, one to intersect the Great 
Northern at Palestine, and the other the Trans-con- 
tinental in Tarrant County, and the Denver City Rail- 
road in Clay County, it bids fair to be one of the 
largest inland cities in the State of Texas. 

The old streets of Dallas are broad and at right 
angles ; their names, such as Latimer, Burf ord. Record, 
Cochran, Ochiltree, Bryan, McCoy, etc., call up in the 
minds of old Texans many pleasing reminiscences of 
past and by -gone days. 

Latimer Street was named in honor of the late J. W. 
Latimer, who, in 1849, founded The Dallas Herald, 
and edited it with distinguished ability until the day 
of his death in 1859. Mr. Latimer was a fine writer, 
and through the columns of The Herald^ like a vigilant 
sentinel from the watchtower of liberty, sounded the 



513 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

alarm at tlie stealthy approacli of tlie enemies of free- 
dom and progress. In the prime of his life and use- 
fulness, at the early age of about thirty-three, re- 
gretted by all who knew him, he passed away, leaving 
to his partner, Mr. J. W. Swindells, the control of 
The Herald, under whose management it has', from a 
weekly, become one of the leading and most useful 
daily journals in the state. 

Eecord Street was named after the late J. K, P. 
Record, and Burford Street after the Hon. Nat. M. 
Burford, who still defies the destroying effects of 
time, and makes glad the hearts of his friends by his 
genial smile and great magnanimity. 

Judge Burford has been called " Magnanimous 
Nat," from the following incident : 

Several years ago Mr. George Laws, himself and 
Jim Record (as the late Senator J. K. P. Record was 
familiarly called by his friends) went fishing, carrying 
with them a few bottles wherewith to enliven their 
day's sport and as an antidote for snake-bites. 

Now it so happened, from a rise in the river, not 
catching any fish, drinking too much whiskey, or some 
other cause, that these gentlemen found themselves in 
their flatboat without poles or oars, gliding dowTi the 
turbid waters of the Trinity River, when Record ap- 
pealed to his friend, and said : 

" Grreat God, Nat., what will become of us ? We 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 519 

will be carried away, and lost in the Gulf of Mex- 
ico!" 

Whereupon magnanimous Nat arose, and assuring 
his friends of his ability to save them, took up the 
log-chain attached to the end of the flatboat, and put- 
ting it around his neck, fastened the hook into one of 
the links of the heavy chain, and plunging into the 
swollen stream essayed to swim ashore and carry the 
boat and his friends to safety. 

After one lusty stroke as a swimmer he went under, 
when Record and Laws seized the chain, and pulling 
him up from under the water thus saved his life, and 
soon after, by catching the limbs of overhanging trees, 
got the boat to bank, and returned to Dallas, wetter 
and more fatigued, if not as sober as when they sallied 
forth in the morning on their famous excursion. 

Another true story of Judge Burford is as follows : 

One night, at Lancaster, Georgetown, or some other 
place, in consequence of the crowded condition of the 
hotel where he had stopped, he was placed in the 
same bed with an Irishman, whereupon he pleasantly 
remarked : 

" Well, Pat, I reckon you'd have lived a long time 
in old Ireland before you'd have slept vdth a judge." 

" Yes, yer honor," rejoined Pat, " but the likes of 
ye might have lived longer in ould Ireland before yes 
become a judge." 



520 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

Nightcaps followed this rejoinder, and Judge Buf^ 
ford tucked the drapery of his couch on one side of 
him, and with Pat Maloney on the other, laid down 
to pleasant dreams, which the great, wise, and most 
merciful God always sends to the pure hearted and 
magnanimous. 

In Dallas I heard the following laughable story : 

Billy Harlan, a noted character, was indicted a good 
many years ago for stealing a pair of hames, was 
tried, convicted and sentenced to receive thirty-nine 
lashes, without a scintilla of testimony being intro- 
duced to sustain the charge. 

Tom Jones, one of the jurors, being asked how, 
under his oath, he could bring in a verdict of guilty 
upon the evidence adduced, answered : 

" Why, didn't he steal old Mrs. Lovejoy's apple 
dumplings out of the pot while it was boiling; he 
ought to have a thousand lashes instead of thirty- 
nine." 

The next morning, on the opening of court, Billy's 
attorney made an application for a new trial, on 
account of the absence of any testimony to warrant 
the finding of the jury. Immediately after the ad- 
journment of court on the previous evening, the shei'iff 
took Billy out, made him fast to a tree, and in genuine 
frontier style administered the sentence of the court. 

When Billy was informed of the application for a 



EIST0B7 OF TEXAS. 521 

new trial, lie ran into the court-house, interrupted his 
lawyer, Gr. A. Everts, by pulling his coat-tail, and 
saying, " Stop that, they have already whipped me." 

The attorney withdrew his motion for a new trial, 
but the court, Hon. Nat. M. Burford presiding, satis- 
fied that there was no testimony to warrant the ver- 
dict, against Billy's desire, granted a new trial ; but 
before his rearrest, Billy, not wishing to be rewhipped, 
broke out of the court-house and fled to parts un- 
known. 

If, in the course of his promiscuous reading, these 
few lines should ever fall under his observation, it 
may be well for Billy Harlan to remember that the 
record in his memorable case is still in a state of pre- 
servation. 

HEMPSTEAD, 

The county-seat of Waller County, is at the junction 
of the western branch of the Houston and Texas 
Central Railroad, with the main trunk, about fifty 
miles above Houston, and not more than three or 
four miles from the Brazos River. It is pleasantly 
located on sandy soil in the prairie, surrounded by^ 
the timbered lands of Clear Creek and the Brazos. 

By the Legislature of 1873, Waller County was 
created out of Austin and Grimes Counties, and Hemp-, 
stead made a court-house town. This had often been 



522 HISTORY OF TEXAS.. 

attempted before, but had as often been defeated by 
the citizens of Austin County living west of the Bra- 
zos. Hempstead has about 1,000 or 1,500 inhabitants, 
is rapidly improving, and is sustained by a rich and 
productive surrounding country, abounding in all 
kinds of game and fish. 

I have passed some the most pleasant moments of 
my life in and around this town, and will relate a 
little incident which occurred there but a few weeks 
ago: 

Meeting with my old friends. Judge W. S. Day, 
Major J. B. McCown, and others, we were indulging 
in pleasing reminiscences of the past, when we were in- 
terrupted in our enjoyment by two drunken men, one 
of whom, as he sat down by my side, repeated the fol- 
lowing lines of the poet : 

" Oh, ever thus from childhood's hour 
I've seen my fondest hopes decay, 
I never loved a tree or flower 
But what 'twas sure to fade away I " 

Somewhat annoyed by the intruder, I slapped him 
on the shoulder, and, intending to be severely ironical, 
thus addressed him : 

" Sir, nature intended you for a great poet ! Had 
you not gone back on nature, the immortal Homer, 
Shakspeare, Milton, Pope, Byron, Burns, Scott, and 
all the poetic stars of ancient and modern times, would 



EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 523 

have paled into insignificance before your brilliant 
genius, as the smaller luminaries do before the sun." 

At this remark the person addressed hung his head, 
while his drunken companion thus addressed me : 

" Lookee here, stranger, you're mistaken about Bill. 
Nature intended Bill for a damn fool, and he haint 
gone back on nature, nary inch ! He fills the bill to a 
fraction." 

Amid the smiles of the party our little social re- 
union broke up, and we left Bill and his companion 
alone in their glory. 

In its earlier days, Hempstead was a great place for 
pistols and bowie-knives. I have seen dead men there, 
but will only relate two incidents which come to my 
recollection from local association : 

A. B., the editor of a newspaper, assailed, in a very 
bitter editorial, Mr. C. D. 

C. D. took no notice of the editorial, and Mr. A. B. 
challenged him. 

C. D. paid no attention to the challenge, where- 
upon A. B. took a stand on the street, and as C. D. 
came along, bounced him and commenced fighting. 
C. D., who was a large, powerful man, received three 
or four blows before he became angry, then exclaim- 
ing, "Why, great God, man, you are fighting," and in 
an instant knocked the editor down, and beat him 
tmtil he cried " enough ! " 



524 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

The Bext morning an editorial appeared in Mr. A. 
B.'s Journal^ stating tliat tlie difficulty between the 
editor and C. D. had been satisfactorily settled. 

On another occasion J. Brown remarked, under the 
excitement of the moment, to Mr. Smith, that he could 
knock a half-dozen of Smith's teeth down his throat 
at one lick. 

Smith, being rather a small man, quietly retired, but 
suddenly returned with his double-barrel shot-gun 
presented, and exclaimed : 

" You are my meat ! " 

Whereupon Brown, seeing murder in Smith's eyes, 
and his own death imminent, smilingly and eloquently 
rejoined : 

" Smith, my dear friend, hold on ! We have often 
drank together, but if you shoot and kill me, we can 
never drink together again, and you will have to be 
tried for murder ! You know how the lawj^ers talk 
about hanging and the penitentiary on a murder trial ! 
Look here, old fel ! Let's go take another drink and 
quit this foolishness ! " 

The a^Dpeal was irresistible, and Messrs. Smith and 
Brown again imbibed, after which all animosity be- 
tween them was buried in oblivion, and the two were 
as one. 

Twenty -five miles north of Hempstead is Planters- 
ville, a very lovely little village of a few hundred in- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 525 

habitants. Several years ago, two men from Indiana 
came to Texas, with a wagon-load of bells, and after 
selling them, together with their wagon and team, 
started home on foot from the interior of Texas, by 
way of Plantersville and Houston. 

Having heard many stories of robbery and murder 
in Texas, and having all their wealth, consisting of six 
or seven hundred dollars in silver, on their persons, 
the hoosiers were wide-awake, and on the lookout for 
attacks from whatever source they might come. 

Now it so happened that as they were walking 
quietly along the public road near Plantersville, three 
gentlemen, Messrs. Ike Baker, Jim Pinkston, and Joe 
Bates, were out hunting, one of whom, Mr. Bates, com- 
ing out of the woods into the road with his gun in his 
hands, and meeting the hoosiers, rather surprised 
them ; but after mutual questions and answers, the 
bell men went on their way, and Joe Bates wishing to 
know the whereabouts of Ike Baker and Jim Pink- 
ston, sounded his horn, which was answered by those 
of Baker and Pinkston in front of the travellers, who, 
as they advanced, supposing themselves surrounded 
by robbers and about to be attacked, killed and robbed 
of their money, drew their pistols and commenced 
their defence by firing at Baker and Pinkston from 
behind trees. 

Mr. Ike Baker and Jim Pinkston received the fire 



526 HISTORY OF TEXA8. 

of the bell-men, and not liking the liberty taken by 
tke strangers with their wardrobes, returned the fire, 
and seven buckshot floored one hoosier, while five more 
perforated the body of the other. 

As Baker and Pinkston went up to their assailants, 
they threw before them their silver and exclaimed : 
" Take our money, but spare our lives ! " 

After learning the mistake of the bell-men, the 
hunters went for a doctor and a wagon to take the 
wounded men to shelter and medical attendance. But 
when the hunters returned, the bell-men had fled, still 
believing fchem to be robbers. 

Bloodhounds were put on the track of the bell-men, 
and after a chase of two or three miles they were 
caught, their wounds dressed, and they were carried 
to Mr. Baker's residence and kindly cared for until 
their wounds were well. 

The money was found on the ground where it was 
thrown, and returned to its owners. 

After the unfortunate hoosiers got well, Mr. Baker 
sent them in his carriage to Montgomery, whence they 
took stage for Houston. 

Several years afterwards, Ike Baker met one of the 
unfortunates in the theatre at Galveston, and after a 
friendly greeting, he said : " I never related the aifair 
in Indiana, and for God's sake don't let the story get, 
out on us ! " 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



527 



A railroad is contemplated to connect Hempstead, 
Hunts ville, Montgomery and Plantersville ; it would 
run through a beautiful, well watered and finely tim- 
bered section of country. The lumber alone from the 
immense forest of pine through which the road would 
run, together with the cotton, would surely pay the 
expense of running it, and add greatly to the develop- 
ment of one of the most sparsely settled but very 
desirable portions of the State. 



CHAPTER XXL 

Georgetown. — Williamson County. — Sam Houston. — Salado. — Sterling 
Robertson. — "Waco and surrounding country. — •Limestone and Free- 
stone Counties. — Trinity College, Faii-field, Groesbeck, Sister Jane, Joe 
McDonald, Anderson, Smith, Rains, and Hunt Counties. — Palestine, 
Tyler, Dr. Jowers, Hardin Hart, etc. 

r^ EOEG-ETOWN, the county seat of Williamson 
^-^ county, was named in honor of George W. Glass- 
cock, a native of Kentucky, wlio was a partner in 
business of the late Abraham Lincoln, and one of the 
famous storming party which captured San Antonio, 
December 10, 1835. He died in Travis county, Feb- 
ruary 28, 1868, full of years and honors, leaving sev- 
eral sons and daughters, among them the prosperous 
and very responsible lawyer and laud-agent, George 
W. Glasscock of Austin. 

Georgetown is pleasantly situated on the South San 
Gabriel, twenty-five miles north of Austin, about the 
centre of Williamson county (named after Judge Wil- 
liamson, alias three-legged Willie), through which 
Indian creek and eleven other lovely streams — named 
Salado, Donohoe, Dyers, Williamson, Mustang, Willis, 
Opossum, Battleground, Brushy, North, South, and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 529 

Main San Gabriel — flow, and is surrounded by most 
beautiful, rich and productive lands. 

It was laid ojff and settled in 1848, and tlie first 
district court was lield in tlie open air over a pile of 
logs. 

Here Jones Rivers came to practise law, and died 
with as little regret as he could have died anytohere else, 
so lie said wlien dying ; here also may be seen to this 
day, the grave of Phil Claiborne which Col. Rivers 
caused to be dug in anticipation that the Lord would 
answer his prayer on a certain occasion and take Phil 
to himself, while in repentance, peradventure Philip 
might backslide and be irrevocably lost. 

Here also reside the eldest son and daughter of the 

hero of San Jacinto, Mrs. Nannie Morrow, and young 

Sam Houston, one of the bravest boys who fought to 

sustain the lost cause, and who was shot down on the 

battlefield of Shiloh, and so terribly wounded that the 

surgeon who first examined him pronounced his case 

hopeless, and advised poor Sam to talk quick and fast 

to God, as his hour had come when his soul must wing 

its way to the mansions of everlasting life and eternal 

felicity, or go down the easy descent to the dark and 

gloomy regions where dwell those poor, erring, sinful 

mortals who hate "the pure, the beautiful, and the 

good," and "love darkness rather than light." 

He says he felt mighty bad when the surgeon told 
23 



530 mSTOBT OF TEXAS. 

him Lis wounds were mortal, and left him ; but still 
he hoped to get well, and live, and enjoy himself, and 
luxuriate in the bright smiles and inestimable love of 
some fair Texan maid. 

While thus hoping and helplessly lying, with his 
bones broken and his life's blood oozing gently from 
his wounds, the minister, sent to him by the surgeon, 
came to his side, and bending down upon his knees, 
commenced an appeal to the throne of Grace on behalf 
of Sam's immortal soul, which Sam interrupted with 
these words: 

"My fi'iend, if you will stop talking to God, and 
will stanch my blood, and dress my wounds, I think 
I will get well." 

The pious man stopped praying, and asked : 

" Young man, what is your name ? " 

" My name," said the wounded boy, " is Sam Hous- 
ton." 

" Are you related to Gen. Sam Houston of Texas ?" 
asked the minister. 

" I have been taught since infancy to look upon 
him as my father," rejoined young Sam. 

" Well, gracious goodness alive ! " exclaimed the 
preacher, " I know your father well ! he is my friend !. 
and, God permitting, you shall not die ! " 

Whereupon he had poor Sam carried upon a litter 
to his house, and kindly attended on him until his 



mSTOBY OF TEXAS. 53I 

bones had knitted together and his wounds were 
healed, when the youthful hero bid farewell to his 
preserver, and again joined that brave and noble- 
hearted army of Southern patriots who contended so 
long and so gallantly against the inexhaustible re- 
sources and overwhelming numbers of the enemy — 
but, alas ! in vain. 

I love a brave man on any part of the ground, and 
no one can see and talk with Sam Houston without 
recognizing the virtue of bravery united with a culti- 
.vated mind, a fine person, and most agreeable manners. 

Georgetown is a very healthy and delightful place 
to live in, and no better locality could have been 
selected for the Texas Methodist University, which 
is an honor to as well as the pride of the citizens of 
Georgetown, who donated for its establishment $175,- 
000. This University at present contains accommo- 
dations for 300 students, and is in a flourishing con- 
dition. 

North of Georgetown, about half-way between 
Austin and Waco, is the fair and thriving town of 
Salado, noted for its fine schools and beautiful spring. 

Here settled, in 1853, that sterling old Texan, ster- 
ling soldier and sterling gentleman. Col. Sterling 
Mohertson, son of the old empresario, Sterling C. 
Kobertson, whose colony embraced all the territory 
north of the Camino del Key, from San Antonio to 



532 HiaTOMY OF TEXAS. 

Nacogdoclies, included between the Navasota and Col- 
orado rivers, where said Camino del E,ey, or King's 
highway, crosses them. It embraced many counties 
east and west of the Brazos, but that part west of 
the Brazos, including the counties of Williamson, Bell, 
Milam, Burnett, Lampasas, Bosque, Coryell, Hamil- 
ton, Erath, Hood, Comanche, Brown, Eastland, etc., 
at the first Congress of the Republic was re-christen- 
ed, re-baptized and re-named Milam County — before 
that time it had been called the municipality of Vies- 
ca. The name of the town, as well as of the munici- 
pality, was thus changed. 

This territory is rich, productive and settling up 
very fast. Within six miles of Sal ado there are six 
grist mills run by water-power. In 1859, there was 
but one family in Salado ; now there are 250. Nine 
miles north of Salado is the county seat, Belton, 
which has a fine court-house, jail, a bank, two whole- 
sale and fifteen retail stores, with a thrifty popula- 
tion of several hundred persons. 

To the west of Bell are the counties of Lampasas 
and San Saba, famous for their beautiful streams of 
mineral waters, whose health-giving qualities draw 
thousands of visitors yearly. The Lampasas springs 
are becoming quite a fashionable watering-place. 

The city of Waco, formerly Waco village, and the 
home of the Waco Indians, is beautifully located on 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 533 

tlie Brazos river, about 100 miles north of Austin, and 
about the same distance south of Dallas, containing 
about six or eight thousand inhabitants, and rapidly- 
increasing in houses, wealth, and population. 

The country round about Waco is one of the richest 
and most attractive in the world, producing excellent 
qualities of wheat, corn, cotton, rye, barley, and all 
other productions of the climate. 

A few miles above the city, the Brazos de Dios 
(the arms of God) affectionately embraces the clear 
and beautiful Bosque ; and a few miles below, lovingly 
takes to its bosom the less beautiful Indian-named 
stream, the Tehuacana; and between these two 
branches, about a mile apart, run directly to it, 
through the city, while several lovely fountains of 
water run on its southern bank, with which the 
amiable Wacoes are wont to water their whiskey, and 
wash their linen. 

Capt. S. P. Ross and T. H. Barron, in 1849, built the 
fii'st houses in Waco, and the first sale of city lots took 
place in the spring of 1850, soon after which time it 
was made the county seat of McLennan county, and 
flourished so finely that, in 1856, the first Democratic 
State Convention ever called in Texas — which nomi- 
nated H. R. Runnels, who beat Gen. Houston for gov- 
ernor — was held in Waco. 

The population is composed almost entirely of 



534 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

adventurous persons who emigrated from the older 
States of the Union, and their children born within the 
last twenty years, and is excelled in intelligence, indus- 
try, enterprise, refinement, and morality, by that of no 
city of equal size in the State. 

The Wacoes have a railroad tapping the H. &, T. C, 
at Bremond; they have a magnificent suspension 
bridge across the Brazos; a university; a female col- 
lege; several fine schools, and a very goodly number 
of churches, wherein their true believers congregate 
for worship, and their "fair women and brave men" 
often meet and sing, laugh and talk — and with 

" Soft eyes look love to eyes which speak again." 

In these same churches — 

" In life's morning march, when my bosom was young," 
I have luxuriated " with rapture-smitten frame " in 
" the smiles from partial beauty won," 

and passed many delightful moments in Waco ; 

"But now Memory looks o'er the sad review 
Of joys that faded like the morning dew." 

A family named Beck formerly lived in Waco, of 
which I have heard the f ollomng story ; but — 

** I say the tale as 'twas told to me." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 535 

" Theodore Beck, like many other persons born and 
reared in New England, afc early manhood came to 
Texas, went to work, and made a fortune. 

" But having made his fortune, Theodore sighed once 
more to look upon his native hills, and to behold 
again the familiar faces of beloved but long unseen 
relatives and friends. 

" Theodore went back to New England ; his pious 
friends inquired and listened, while Theodore told his 
marvellous adventures and thi-illing stories of blood 
and murder in our western wilds. 

"Finally, his uncle William, a venerable old Puritan, 
looked Theodore full in the face, and said : 

"'I hope, Theodore, it has never been your misfor- 
tune to kill a fellow-man.' 

"'Well, uncle William,' said Theodore, ' I am sorry 
to say that it has ! ' 

" The venerable old gentleman heaved a sigh, and re- 
joined : * Well, Theodore, I hope to Grod you did it in 
self-defence, and that your conscience is easy about it ! 
But pray, tell me how you happened to do it.' 

" ' Well, uncle,' answered Theodore, '■ I mil tell you 
all about it. Tom Jones was the best friend I ever 
had. He was brave, generous and noble-hearted. We 
had run together for years, and had fought Indians 
side by side many times. Now, on one occasion, 
while we were on the frontier, hunting Indians, our 



536 EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

provisions gave out, and we had notMng to eat for 
tw^o or three days, w^hen one of the party brought in- 
to camp a fine fat venison, which we all cut up and 
commenced broiling, with our ramrods on the fire. 
JSTow, it so happened that the wind changed while we 
were cooking our meat, and Jones, in order to keep 
the smoke out of his eyes, jumped across the fire and 
knocked my piece of meat into the ashes. My six- 
shooter was by my side, and in a moment I drew it, 
fired, and poor Tom fell, shot through the head ! ' 

" His uncle William exclaimed : ' Why, gracious good- 
ness, Theodore, I hoj)e you didn't shoot him just for 
knocking your meat into the ashes ! ' 

" ' Yes I did, uncle William,' said Theodore ; ' and 
I'd shoot anybody for such a thing ! But poor Tom 
died mighty hard. I shot him an inch or so too low, 
and all I regretted about it was, that I didn't shoot 
him in the right place, for he did die powerful 
hard.' " 

By this story, Theodore amused himself and his 
friends, but gave a very incorrect idea of our Texas 
frontiersmen, for I have often heard Latin, Greek, 
Spanish, French, and, German spoken at the same 
camp fire. 

Many times I have heard very apt quotations from 
Shakspeare, Burns, Byron, Milton, Moore, and other 
immortal English bards, while no people on the face 



EISTOET OF TEXAS. 537 

of tlie earth are more hospitable, kind and generous 
than the old Texans. 

The old followers of Jack Hays, Tom Green, Mike 
Chevalier, Henry and Ben McCulloch, Gotch Harde- 
man, Alf Thurmond, John Torrey, George Neal, 
George Barnard, Bob Neighbours, Geo. Frath, John 
Tom, Sam Walker, Ad Gillespie, John Henry Brown, 
and many others, whose names are written on the 
brightest pages of Texas history, would laugh at this 
story of Mr. Beck as a good joke. 

In one of the finest and most substantial private resi- 
dences in Waco, containing a billiard table for the 
amusement of his guests, resides a famous sport by 
the name of Telephus Johnson, who (in ante helium 
days, when our sable-colored fellow-citizens and legis- 
lators were bought, sold, and bet on horse-races) 
planked up two thousand dollars and his favorite boy 
Jake against the same amount and a negro boy owned 
by his competitor. Bob Porter. 

Telephus bribed Porter's rider to hold back Porter's 
horse and let his come out ahead, while Porter paid 
two hundred dollars for the same purpose to the rider 
of Telephus. 

Telephus was beaten, and went home carrying Jake, 
whom he solemnly promised to return back to his mas- 
ter as soon as he arrived home, which he failed to do. 

He wrote, however, to Porter, that Jake was very 
23* 



538 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

sick, and wrote again soon after that lie was dead, en* 
closing a doctor's bill and funeral expenses, and col- 
lected a thousand dollars for the same, while Jake 
was at work sound and hearty. 

This is the same person who, just after the "break 
up," bet the Federal officer who was collecting rebel 
property, twenty dollars that he could prove by negro 
testimony that the spurs worn by the officer were not 
the officer's, but the property of himself. 

Calling u]3 Jake, he inquired of him : 

" Whose spurs are those ? " 

After examining them closely, never having seen 
them before in his life, Jake responded : 

"Dey ar' your spurs, master; I seed you buy um 
from Mr. House, in Houston." 

The officer pulled off the spurs, handed them to 
Telephus with the twenty dollars, and departed; 
giving up all further claim to about fifty mules then 
in his possession, which the officer claimed and could 
fully prove, by negro testimony, was the property of 
the United States as victors over the Confederate 
States. 

The section of country embracing Limestone and 
Freestone counties is finely watered by the Navasota, 
Trinity, Tehuacana, Richland, Keechi, Caney, Steele, 
Christmas, and other beautiful streams. It is one of 
the finest agricultural portions of the State, and being 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 539 

mostly settled by Georgians, Alabamians, Tennesseans 
and Floridans, contains a population of intelligent, 
moral and industrious yeomanry, among wliom the 
immigrant seeking a home in Texas can find good 
neighbors and fioe society. 

The soil is a sandy loam, exceedingly rich and pro- 
ductive, covered alternately by the meadowy grass 
of the prairie and forest trees, among which the post 
oak predominates. 

Groesbeck, the county seat of Limestone county, 
named in honor of Mr. A. Groesbeck, vice-president 
of the Houston and Texas Central Railway Company, 
is on the Central Railway, half way between Kosse 
and Mexia. 

Groesbeck contains a few hundred inhabitants, but 
will, in time, doubtless contain a few thousand. 

Fairfield was laid off in 1851, when Freestone 
county was severed from Limestone, and organized ; 
it contains about 800 inhabitants, is a beautiful, 
healthy little town, and may justly feel proud of its 
excellent female college, where the fair daughters of 
Texas seize and use the golden moments as they fly 
by and join the irrevocable past, in the improvement 
of their minds and manners, as well as in the acquisi- 
tion of learning and those gentle, winning, witching 
ways which please, fascinate and enslave the hearts 
of men. 



540 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

In tMs section is also located Trinity College, one 
of the best in tlie State, wherein the Cumberland 
Presbyterians educate their children and teach them 
the lovely precepts of Divine revelation, the folly of 
sin, the wisdom of virtue, and the sublime principle 
of faith. 

And here, for the edification of the reader, I will 
relate the story of Sister Jane and the enthusiastic 
young preacher. 

" Sister Jane was a very pious, good Christian, who, 
one day, while discussing the idea of faith with the 
preacher, said she had faith, and sometimes she felt 
as if she could fly. 

" The preacher asserted that if she had faith and be- 
lieved she could fly — that without a doubt she could 
fly / and insisted on Sister Jane's making the trial of 
her faith. 

" Sister Jane consented — a table was placed out in 
the yard, Sister Jane mounted the table, clapped her 
hands and jumped off, striking the air with her arms 
as a bird in flight does with its wings. 

" Sister Jane came to the ground with greater speed 
than grace, when the enthusiastic minister, while aid- 
ing her to rise, said to her : 

" You were mistaken, sister ! You haven't faith ; if 
you had, you could have flown through the air as a 
dove.' 



mSTOBY OF TEXAS. 541 

" Sister Jane answered : '■ I have faith, brother, and 
I still believe I can fly, but I didn't get the right 
flop.'" 

The early settlers of Limestone county, who built 
their houses in the wilderness and although often 
troubled by the Indians, converted it into green fields 
and happy homes, were truly men of faith ! 

Indeed, if success is any evidence of merit, and get- 
ting the right flop leads on to fortune, it may be 
said of the pioneer settlers of this magnificent farm- 
ing country, " They got the right flop ! " 

They not only converted a wilderness into green 
fields and happy homes, but they built school-houses, 
colleges and churches. Nor did they stop here, but, 
led by an abiding faith in God, who had so loDg de- 
fended them against the tomahawk of the cruel, blood- 
thirsty savages, they joined hands and hearts, formed 
bands more numerous than that of Gideon, and made 
the wilderness resound with the songs and shouts of 
their glorious, old time-honored canvp meetings. 

I have attended camp meetings and listened with 
delight to songs similar to the following : 

" I want to go, I want to go, 
I want to go there too ; 
Where solid joy fills the soul, 
I want to go there too I " 

Once on a time a very amiable old Texan named 



543 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Joe McDonald, after getting on the outside of as 
mucli whiskey as he could conveniently carry, went 
to one of these camp meetings with a bottle in his 
pocket. 

The minister gave out a hymn, which was sung by 
the congregation and followed by prayer, during which 
Joe, while on his knees, imbibed from his bottle, 
which so affected him that when the congregation, 
after prayer, again commenced singing, Joe arose 
from his seat, and after exclaiming : " Brethren, stop 
that song ! it would freeze h — 1 over a foot thick in a 
minute and a quarter ; let me sing ! " He sang in a 
loud musical voice, solo^ the following beautiful lines 
of the poet : 

" Oft in the stilly night, 
Ere slumber's chain hath bound me, 
Fond memory brings the light 
Of other days around me." 

The efEect of his song may be more easily im- 
agined than described. Joe was taken out from the 
congregation of the faithful — some laughing and 
others smiling, while the rigidly righteous fro^vned 
their rebuke and indignation in angry looks at poor 
Joe's ungodly condition and impious conduct. 

At one of these camp meetings, on Mill creek, 
Guadalupe county, in Western Texas, where stock- 
raising is followed as a business, and the branding of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 54.3 

animals by the owner is required by law, and they 
gather them in pens, brand and turn them out again, 
Gen. Henry McCulloch was converted to a knowl- 
edge of the Lord, and becoming enthused in the 
cause of his new Master, he appealed to his old sol- 
diers who had followed him in his numerous battles 
with Indians and Mexicans, to lay aside their love for 
the vain and empty pleasures of this wicked world, 
and follow him in his new expedition, the grand ob- 
ject of which was to avoid the pains and penalties of 
hell and damnation, and, after a safe passage of the 
river Jordan and victorious assault upon the fortifi- 
cations of Zion, was to end in everlasting life and 
eternal happiness. 

The general's appeal took like wildfire, and in a 
moment or two the little sanctuary was filled, and the 
preacher exhorted the new converts to stand back 
and not crowd in so fast. 

This exhortation of the preacher was followed by 
the loud command of one of the newly converted cow- 
boys : " Brand 'em and turn 'em out." 

Soon after this occurrence there was a lull of al- 
most a perfect calm, which was ended by three loud 
resounding yells from a shouting sister, when one of 
the cow-boys inquired of his chum : 

" 8ay^ Jim, J what you reckon the sister is holler in 
for?'' 



544 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

" Don't know, Jack," answered the otker, "tliout tlie 
sister's on lier transit, got to Jordan, and is a kol- 
lerin for the ferryman to come and cross ker over the 
river." 

On another occasion a famous old Texan, Jack 
Cryer, of Colorado, at the earnest entreaties of con- 
verted friends, manfully walked up to the altar and 
anchored himself on the anxious seat, to be prayed 
for. 

The prayers of the faithful were answered, and 
Jack was brought to a knowledge of the Lord, and 
became a member of the church. 

Two or three days afterwards, a young lady, after 
conversion, fell into a trance ; a doctor and two or 
three preachers, after examination, expressed the 
opinion that the patient was not dangerously sick, and 
would be all right in a few hours, when Mr. Cryer 
took the hand of the young lady in his, and finding 

no pulse, solemnly exclaimed : " I'll be d d if she 

don't seem to me might'ly like she's dead ! " 

Jack Cryer's faith was simon pure^ and no doubt 
the recording angel, after entering this oath of Jack's, 
let fall a tear on the, record and blotted it out, for it 
was uttered unhelcnownest to himself, and owing alone 
to his deplorable habit of profane swearing. 

East of Freestone is Anderson county, through the 
fertile valleys of which flow the Trinity and Nachez 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 545 

rivers. Palestine, the county seat, was laid off in 1846, 
and is a pleasant, healthy, and thriving town of about 
2,500 or 3,000 inhabitants. Here resides Hon. John 
H. Reagan, his partner Col. Thos. B. Greenwood, 
Gen. T. J. Word, Col. A. T. Rainey, and that distin- 
guished gentlemen. Dr. W. G. W. Jowers, who was 
one of the number who once suffered in a little game 
of cards, in consequence of the Hon. Hardin Hart's 
conscientious scruples about gambling on Sunday, as 
will appear from the following reminiscence : 

Many years ago, in Austin, at a little outhouse 
belonging to Captain James Swisher, near the Treas- 
ury building, Forbes Britton, Doctor Jowers, Gen. 
Tarrant, and the learned Justice Hardin, engaged in 
a game known among sportsmen as poker. Now, it 
so happened that it was Saturday night, and that 
Hardin was lucky, and when the clock struck twelve, 
having won from the party about five hundred dollars, 
he arose from the table from which he had raked and 
pocketed his winnings, and pointing to the clock, 
with pious solemnity covering his venerable counte- 
nance, said: "Gentlemen, you see it's now twelve 
o'clock ; ef we play eny longer we'll be violatin' the 
Sabbath ! My conscience checks me, an' I won't play 
another cu7'd to-night ! " 

With this classic remark, according to Forbes Brit* 
ton's account of it, Hardin jumped the game ! 



546 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

Nearly nortli of Palestine, abont fifty miles, is tlie 
fair city of Tyler, county seat of the finely timbered 
and productive county of Smitli^ named in honor of 
the immortal Deaf Smith, or some other member of 
that illustrious family. 

A branch of the District Court of the United States 
is held at Tyler, but in a little rented building, the 
Government not having either the money or the in- 
clination to erect a court-house in Texas. 

The Supreme Court of the State is also held in 
Tyler, which, as it is surrounded by a very healthy 
and finely watered country, producing the most de- 
lightful apples, peaches, pears, and grapes, bids fair 
to flourish and advance from its present population of 
three thousand to ten or twenty thousand inhabitants 
in a very short time. 

Kains and Hunt counties, watered by the Sabine 
and its tributaries, which extend even to Collin county, 
are also rich, fertile, and productive, as well as settling 
up rapidly. 

It was in the flourishing town of McKinney, which 
was named in honor of Collin McKinney, as was Col- 
lin county, the richest in the State also, that in 1868 
I first beheld Judge Hardin Hart on the bench. 

I did try, as follows, to describe Hardin as he ap- 
peared when I entered the temple of justice, with his 
drawers hanging at least two inches below his pants, 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 547 

over a pair of rough brogans, showing his skin to the 
observer, and his shirt, none of the whitest, exposed 
between his vest and pants for about three inches. 
His honor wore a blue coat (said to have been won 
from a Federal soldier), not after the style of " old 
Father Grimes," which was long-tailed, but more after 
that of Bones, the dancing negro in the Olympic. 

After sitting erect for a few moments Hardin rested 
his elbows on the plank which served him as a desk, 
and then rested his head upon his hands, occasionally 
running one of his fists as far into his mouth as he 
could get it. — " Them is my idees of what the law ar," 
he said, when enunciating a decision. 

The judge was reported to have bought a new 
shirt and paper collar lately at Bonham, but I am 
informed that the rumor is false — he having on the 
same one he wore at Sherman a few weeks ago. 

He walked into a crowd of lawyers and citizens 
the other day, and hearing one say : " Well, President 
Johnson will be deposed, that is certain," Judge Hart 
remarked with a joyous countenance : "Yes, and I 
reckon his fall will be as great as that of Michael 
WKS ! " One of the gentlemen asked him : " What 
about Michael ? How and where did Michael fall 
from ? " " Why, don't you know," said Judge Hart, 
"that the angel Michael wus flung clean over the 
battlements of heaven ? " "I don't know it, judge ; 



548 HI8T0EY OF TEXAS. 

where do you get your information from ? " " Wliy, 
from tlie Bible, to be sure ! " 

In an action of debt tlie other day, on a question 
involving the statute of limitations, Hardin, in decid- 
ing the point at issue, said : " Gen. Maxey, you ' stood 
pat ' on your note. Sam Roberts ' saw ' you, for the 
widow and children, on the plea of intervention ; but 
Capt. Brown ' has seed ' you both, and ' raised ' you 
on the statute of limitations, and as the case now 
stands, Capt. Brown is entitled to the pot, and it is 
so decided. Mr. Sheriff, adjourn court until to-mor- 
row mornin'." 

In another case Col. Sam Roberts declined to amend 
after exceptions to his pleadings had been, sustained,, 
but afterwards, when going to trial, asked leave to 
amend, when Judge Hart said : 

" Col. Roberts, you stood pat ! you can't draw now ! 
you must play your hand for what it's worth." 

From these decisions it would appear that in addi- 
tion to the legal learning which Judge Hart has 
acquired by the lucuhrationes viginti annmrnm, he 
has also acquired some knowledge of card playing. 

Had Cervantes known his Honor, Sancho Panza, 
the Governor of the Island of Barataria, would have 
been a richer character than he is. 

While Hardin was in Austin as a legislator, he was 
standing one morning before Swisher's hotel on the 



SI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 549 

edge of tlie ditch, and by Ms attitude, which, was that 
of a man just about to jump, drew the attention of 
Jones Rivers, who stopped, and after looking at him 
for a while, yelled out : 

" Jump ! damn you, jump ! " 

His Honor turned on Col. Rivers, and said very in- 
dignantly : 

" I don't want to jump ! I ain't a gwien to jump, 
and I'll be d — d if you can make me jump ! " 

Whereupon Jones smiled, and in his peculiar way, 
which caused the crowd to laugh, said : 

" Well, sir, don't get excited ; I thought you were 
going to let out your last link and jump your level 
best, and was waiting to see you jump, but if you don't 
wish to jump, you needn't to jump, narry time ! " 

After the inauguration of Gov. Coke, while the 
Davis administration was claiming to be the de jure 
government of Texas, Judge Hai't sent in his resigna- 
tion to both Govs. Coke and Davis, remarking to his 
friend, E. G. Bower, of Dallas : " If this ain't enough 
to kiver the case, I'll send 'em duplicates." 

Judge Hart is kindly spoken of in his district as 
one of the best judges who ever served them, for it is 
said he did his best to give justice. 

On one occasion, a jury broughi: in a verdict con- 
trary to his instructions, when Hardin solemnly said : 
"Gentlemen of the jury, you are discharged! Mr. 



550 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

Sheriff, you will summon another jury, but if you get 
another set of as blasted rascals as compose this one, 
I raise you a hean / " 

With Judge Hart I also met in McKinney, Judge 
Gr. A. Everts, known familiarly over Northern Texas 
as " Old Bustamente," and always associated in my 
recollection with bull nettles and centipedes, from the 
fact that once on a time he came running into a room 
at night in Bonham, where I was enjoying an innocent 
game of " draw," holding his pantaloons with both 
hands, and fright and terror speaking from his whole 
aspect, and exclaimed : " Bit by a centipede ! dead in 
fifteen minutes, by G — d ! " It turned out that the 
judge had mistaken a bunch of bull nettles for a 
centipede. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

N'orthem Texas. — Jonesborough, Travis, and George "Wright. — ^Kiowa 
Indians kill Hon. G. N. Martin, his Son Mat. — Gen. Leavenworth. — 
Clarksville, Paris, Honey Grove, Bonham, Sherman, Ennis, Denison, 
Jones Kivers, etc. 

I OWIE, Red River, Lamar, Fannin, Grayson and 
Cook counties, on Red river, as well as Denton, 
Collin, Hunt and Hopkins counties, lying south of 
them, contain magnificent lands, on w^hicli, in the 
same field, grow, most luxuriantly, wheat, corn, cot- 
ton, potatoes, cabbage, rye, oats, barley, tobacco, and 
all other productions of the climate, while the many 
streams which flow through them abound in fish, and 
the forests in game. ^ 

No portion of the South presents greater induce- 
ments to the farmer, mechanic, or professional man, 
than this, and yet, in old Red River county, where 
the town of Jonesborough,"^ containing two thousand 
inhabitants, once stood, now grow splendid crops of 
corn and cotton ! 

Jonesborough once outnumbered Galveston, Hous- 

* This 2,000 is given by Almonte, Kennedy and Yoakum, but I learned 
from the Wright brothers and Doss family who Uved there, that Jonesbor- 
ough never contained more than 500 inhabitants. 



552 mSTOBY OF texas. 

ton, Jefferson and Dallas, all put together ! Now, 
the site of the once flourishing and promising city — 
the metropolis of Northern Texas, where its mer- 
chants, traders and husbandmen most did congregate 
— ^is fenced in, plowed and cultivated ! 

Lii:e many Mr. Joneses, Smiths, Johnsons, Jacksons 
and Browns, Jonesborough started out in life with 
very promising prospects of becoming famous; but 
as — 

" A flower that does with op'ning morn arise, 
And, flouriahing the day, at evening dies ! " 

Jonesborough put forth the tender leaves of Hope, 
bloomed, and then was nipped by a killing fi'ost ! 
Like Palmyra, Persepolis, Illium and San Filipe de 
Austin, but not like Herculanseum nor Pompeii, 
Jonesborough ivas ! but, " as the baseless fabric of a 
vision," Jonesborough is gone ! 

" Alas, the uncertainty and insecurity of all earthly things ! " 

" The stoutest vessel manned by brave hearts and 
skillful hands may founder in a hurricane, while the 
frail bark which owns no mastery in building, may 
be gently wafted into its destined harbor ! " 

" Well — well, the worid must turn upon its axis, 
And all manlrind turn with it, heads or tails, 
And live and die, make love and pay our taxes 
And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails." 



HISTOBY OF TEXAS. 553 

In tlie days of the Republic of Texas, there lived 
in Red River county, two brothers named Travis G. 
and George W. Wright, the former of whom served 
as a legislator of Arkansas, while at the same time 
the latter served as a member of the Texas Congress. 

Arkansas still claims a portion of land west of the 
river which should be added to Bowie or Red River 
county, but at an early day the boundary line was 
not laiown, and Texans and Ai'kansawyers thus frater- 
nized. 

The Wright brothers settled on Red River about 
1816 — fine specimens of the old Texan — and are, in- 
deed, par nohile fratrum, whose ancestors fought 
under the immortal Washington in the glorious strug- 
gle which resulted in American Independence, and 
whose children lately bore aloft in battle the cross of 
St. Andrew. 

I have heard them tell of their early lives in Texas 
— how, after the labor of the day and eating their 
suppers, they would take their blankets, go to the 
woods, and by the sides of logs enjoy that refreshing 
sleep and security which their house, on account of 
the nocturnal attacks of the Indians, did not afford. 

In May, 1834, the Kiowa Indians made a descent 
upon the settlements of Northern Texas on Glass's 
Creek, killed Judge Gabriel N. Martin, the brother-in- 
law of T. G. and G. W. Wright, and carried away to 
24 



554 HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

their strongliold in tlie Wichita mountains Ms little 
son, Mat W. IVfartin, then eight years old. 

After burying the husband of his only sister, who 
was almost distracted by his death, Capt. T. G. 
"Wright, with three volunteers, John Ragsdale, Thos. 
McCown, and Hardy, a negro who had lived with the 
Kiowas and spoke their language, bid good-by to 
their friends, and struck out over the boundless 
prairie to hunt the murderers of Judge Martin, rescue 
little Mat and return him to his grief-stricken 
mother. 

It was arranged that when the little party should 
find the camp of the Indians, Capt. Wright, with 
Ragsdale and McCown, should conceal themselves in 
a thicket, while Hardy should enter alone the camp 
of his old associates, and, while pretending to rejoin 
them, find the little boy, and, when opportunity 
offered, with him leave the camp of the Kiowas, seek 
the hiding place of his friends, and with them and 
little Mat return as best they could to the settle- 
ments. 

For days and weeks they traversed the prairies and 
cross timbers, but before they neared the village of 
the Kiowas, these bold and death-daring frontiersmen 
most foi'tunately fell in with Gen. Leavenworth of 
the United States Army, who, with detachments of 
infantry and cavalry, was seeking these same Indians, 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 555 

by order of tte Government, to treat with tliem for 
the delivery of other captives then held by them. 

Capt. Wright and his party joined the command of 
Gen. Leavenworth, and all of them being good woods- 
men, were of great service in finding lost horses and 
killing game. 

The weather was hot, the prairies all dry and 
water very scarce, while the Indians fied before and 
hung around their rear, refusing to stop even for a 
white flag or to hold any communication whatever 
with them. 

From bad water, exposure, anxiety of mind, or 
some other cause, Gen. Leavenworth sickened and 
died, when Capt. Wright and his party, with twelve 
soldiers, were detailed to carry back his body 
to Fort Washita, from whence it was afterwards 
taken for final interment to Delhi, New York. 

As a soldier and officer Gen. Leavenworth was ad- 
mired for his many excellent qualities, and his un- 
timely death was sincerely mourned by his whole 
■command. 

Capt. Wright and his party returned from Fort 
Washita to the little army then under command of 
the next senior officer, Capt. Dean, with which he 
and his party passed through the cross timbers, 
suffering much — often pressing the juice from wild 
grapes to quench their thirst, v/hich not only re- 



556 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

lieved tliem, but had an exhilarating effect similar to 
wine. 

After mucli suffering and hardship they came to a 
country abounding in water and game, when they 
luxuriated upon roast turkey, venison and buffalo 
steaks, besides a variety of fresh- water fish, and honey 
found abundantly in the hollow trees. 

But it was some time before they found the village 
of the Kiowas : in the course of time, however, after 
scouring the country all round where the ti'ail disap- 
peared, they discovered an Indian on the prairie, 
when two select men on swift horses were ordered 
to catch him. The race was short, for when the In- 
dian saw his pursuers gaining on him and lost all- 
hope of escape, he dismounted, and levelled his gun at 
them; whereupon they" also dismounted and ad- 
vanced upon him without presenting their guns, but 
making signs to him not to shoot, which he did not 
do, and the two horsemen came up to him without 
harm and induced him to visit their camp. 

The Kiowas had been at war with the Osage 
Indians, and when this Kiowa entered the camp of 
the white men, to his great joy and astonishment, 
his only sister (who had been captured by the Osages 
in one of their battles with the Kiowas, and had 
been ransomed or purchased by the United States, in 
order to present her as a token of * friendship to her 



HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 557 

tribe) ran up to him, and falling upon his neck, wept 
for joy. 

The objects of the expedition having been explained 
to this Indian, he piloted Dean's command to the place 
where the trail or path gave out on the bank of a 
creek, up that creek several hundred yards through 
the water to a plain road on the opposite bank, which 
led to their village, where a treaty was soon concluded 
and many liberated captives ran to the open arms of 
their kindred and friends. 

Little Mat Martin again made glad the heart of a 
fond mother and other- relations and friends, while 
Capt. Travis G. Wright still lives and enjoys that 
sweetest and most exquisite pleasure which always 
comes home to the hearts of those who delight to 
make others happy. 

The Hon. George W. Wright often speaks of the 
six changes of governments under which he has 
lived. 

1st. Under the United States, by cession from 
France in 1803 ; 2d. Under Spain, by cession from the 
United States, in 1819 to 1824; 3d. Under the United 
States of Mexico, from 1824 to 1836 ; 4th. Under the 
Republic of Texas, from 1836 to 1846; 5th. The 
United States again, from 1846 to 1861 ; 6th. The 
Confederate States, from 1861 to 1865; 7th. The 
United States again, which he don't count as the 7th 



558 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

government, has not yet changed, and it is fervently 
hoped, never will! 

The Wright brothers also told me af the good old 
times of the cash-note system, payable in cows and 
calves, when every Texan's credit was good for what 
he wished to buy, unless he was a notorious character, 
and then how they used to swing up these notorious 
characters to the limbs of trees. 

Page's tree, at Clarksville, and Bighorn Smith's, at 
Bonham, stand to this day as living witnesses to the 
swift and certain punishment meted out to the wrong- 
doer by the old Texans. No games of seven-up were 
then played by jurors in order to agree on a verdict, 
but when crime was found out its punishment fol- 
lowed. 

This certainty of punishment for crime prevents its 
often occurrence, and it might be well for our State 
and National legislators, in view of the great demor- 
alization of the times, to lay aside their sickly senti- 
mentality about reforming thieves, robbers, and mur- 
derers in penitentiaries, and by inflicting certain, full 
and speedy punishment upon them, thus make crime 
odious, perilous, and less frequent. If they will not 
listen to the voice of wisdom, the aspect of terror may 
arrest their wicked resolves. 

If, as we learned from Webster's old spelling-book, 
they will not listen to kind words, nor heed harmless 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 559 

turfs of grass, then let fly at them bone-breaking, 
death-hearing stones. 

When the gentle words of peace and love are scoffed 
at by the careless, Jia/i^dened villain, then 

" Cry HAVOC, wnd let slip the dogs of war'''' 

on the hopeless, unrepentant wretch, and thereby 
protect society and throw over the innocent and 
defenceless the shield of terror. 

In 1846, while riding alone about dusk, on the na- 
tional road cut through the dense forest of the Red 
River bottom, between Pine Bluffs and where the 
Kiamitia flows into that stream, near the place where 
three men had been hung for murder or robbery, I saw 
approaching me a terrible-looking man, who, from his 
staggering, was either drunk or acting the drunkard. 

I was entirely unarmed, and the idea occurred to 
me that the individual might attempt to rob me. 
When he approached, and after shaking me warmly 
by my right hand with his, suddenly he changed his 
grasp of my hand from his right hand to his left, and 
thrust his right hand into his bosom ! 

Blood and murder ! my hair stood on end, and ele- 
vated my hat ! Was he going to draw a pistol or 
bowie-knife ? Should I pop both sjDurs into my horse's 
side and thus try to escape, or bounce on him from the 
saddle for a death struggle ? 



560 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

In a moment, wliicli seemed a mighty long time, lie 
drew fortli his hand from his bosom, holding in it 
neither pistol nor knife, but a bottle ol Dexter'' s double 
rectified, and exclaimed : 

" Take a drink, stranger ! take a drink ! " 

Never was my surprise and astonishment so great, 
so agreeable, or so sudden ! 

I have often been in danger, have seen many shells ex- 
plode, and have been shot at when only a few feet from 
my enemy, but I never felt half so much scared in all 
my life as I did when this highwayman, who proved to 
be an honest, good citizen, thrust his hand in his bosom. 

Paris, Bonham, Sherman, and Clarksville are beau- 
tiful and flourishing towns, — each surrounded by 
rich lands, fine farms, and a prosperous people. 

Sherman was at one time as large as Dallas, but 
the Texas Pacific, when it connected the latter with 
Shreveport and Texarkana, while the Transcontinental 
failed to connect Sherman even with Paris, precipi- 
tated the growth of Dallas. 

Denison, sixteen miles north of Sherman, at the 
junction of the Central railroad with the M. K. and 
T., ships thousands of beeves to St. Louis annually, 
and has the largest flour mill in Texas. "'^ It is but 

* In this I may be mistaken, for Mr. Joseph Mulhall, of St. Louis, the 
famous stockyard man, has recently erected a very fine flouring mill at 
the very prosperous city of Ennis, in the midst of rich and very productive 



EI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 5gl 

three miles from tlie Indian Territory, and daily the 
red men with their wives and pappooses throng its 
streets. 

Denison has one of the most elegant institutions 
of learning in the State, and bids fair to increase in 
wealth and importance. It now numbers several 
thousand inhabitants, although but little more than 
two years old. 

About midway between Paris and Bonham is the 
lovely little village of Honey Grove, in the midst of 
a very rich, beautiful and productive country — here 
the hero, Davy Crockett, stopped and rested when 
he first came to Texas, and finding bees and honey 
in the trees, named the place Honey Grove. 

The Transcontinental railroad, a branch of the 
Texas and Pacific, runs by this place. 

Soon their old mode of transportation, by horse and 
ox-wagon, will be a thing of the past, and the old 
North Texan can smile as the locomotive carries him 
pleasantly over iron rails his old day's journey in an 
hour. 

But never will the old Texans forget the long 
weary miles, over boggy roads and hog-wallow prairie, 

fields of wheat, com, cotton, etc. Ennis is in Ellis County, east of Waxa- 
hachie, the county seat ; is beautifully located on the Houston and Texas 
Central Railroad, thirty-three miles south of Dallas, and is certain to be- 
come a city of considerable trade and importance. 
24* 



1562 EISTOBY OF TEXAS. 

to market, and liow tliey used to ask : " Stranger, how 
far is it to town ? " and kow, sometimes, the stranger 
would not do as Jones E-ivers did, lessen, but increase 
tke distance. 

Jones being asked tkis question, answered : " Well, 
sir, your team appears fatigued, you look very thirsty, 
and the road is bad, so I'll let you have it at twelve 
miles, but I'll be d — d if anybody else should have it 
for less than fifteen." 

Col. Rivers was indeed a man of infinite wit and 
humor, and I will relate with what ease and pleasan- 
try, in his expiring moments, he " folded the drapery 
of his couch around him, and laid down to pleasant 
dreams ! " 

Caesar's et tu^ Brute ! Napoleon's tSte d'Armee ! 
and Mr. Webster's exclamation, I still live ! are 
history. 

" Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus Christ 
died like a God ! " is familiar to the school-boy. 

Jones Rivers died as he had lived, with wit on his 
li]DS and a smile on his face. 

In his expiring moments, while gasping for breath, 
a lady attendant asked : " Col. Rivers, will you have 
a little air ? " 

" No, madam," he answered, " no more heirs for me. 
Too late ! Excuse me, if you please." 

May you, dear reader, without regard to your race, 



HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 563 

nation or language, when the dark-winged angel of 
death shakes his sable banner before your closing 
eyes, die as carelessly, as pleasantly and with as little 
regret as did Jones Rivers, and with him, Phil Clai- 
borne, and all other good men, who love the pure, the 
T^eautiful and the good, and whose greatest pleasure 
comes from wiping tears from the eyes of suffering 
humanity and pouring th6 balm of consolation into a 
wounded spirit — after crossing over the river, meet in 
the great Beyond, where 

*' God gives the milk, the honey and the wine, 
And pleasure never dies." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Agriculture, Farming, Stock Kaising, "Wool Growing, Fishing and Hunt- 
ing in Texas. — Manufactures, Wine Growing, Minerals, Financial Con- 
dition, Educational Advantages and Advances illustrated. — An Ad- 
dress. — A Novel.— The Conclusion. 

A GRICULTURE is tlie grand pursuit of Texans, 
and cotton the great staple or chief article of 
produce for exportation. 

Wheat, corn, oats, rye, potatoes, tomatoes, etc., 
have rarely been exported. 

The estimated receipts of cotton at Galveston alone 
for this year, is 400,000 bales, worth, at sixteen cents 
per pound, $32,000,000. 

Many thousands of beeves are also raised and ex- 
ported. In the month of January, 1873, the Morgan 
line of steamers transported to New Orleans via Bra- 
shear, 5,300 head. But the great market for Texas 
beeves is St. Louis, although Memphis is receiving 
some by way of Little Rock. 

Wool, hides, tallow, and bees-wax are annually ex- 
ported to the value of millions of dollars. 

Many persons in Western and South Western 
Texas are engaged exclusively in cattle raising, others 
in raising sheep and wool-growing. 



ElBTORY OF TEXAS. 555 

The latter was tlie pleasing avocation of the late 
G-eorge Wilkins Kendall, who settled on tlie Guada- 
lupe river, about forty miles north of San Antonio, 
who once on a time amused me by relating the 
manner of his life in one day's experience as fol- 
lows: 

"At four o'clock in the morning I arose, sad- 
dled my pony, and, with my gun and fishing tackle, 
rode to the Guadalupe, a mile and a half from my 
residence. I had baited a particular spot for fishing, 
and in a short time I caught twenty-six pounds of 
perch, trout and cat. The last one broke my three 
hooks, after which I took out my knife and filed the 
blunt end of the least broken hook, so that it would 
penetrate, baited it well and threw it in the water. 
In a moment it was swallowed, and I could tell by 
the heavy pulling that it was by a large fish, so in 
order to let him exhaust himself, and avoid breaking 
the hook again, I gave him the line and let him 
struggle round and round for a good while, then 
drawing him in quietly I landed him on terra f/i^ma. 
It was a magnificent trout weighing six pounds and a 
quarter. Just as I had fastened him on the string with 
the others, I heard a turkey gobble about three hun- 
dred yards from me on the other side of the river. 
Taking out my ' yelper,' I talked turkey to him, and 
could plainly see him on his roost turning his head 



566 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

sideways and looking for me. Finally lie stretehed 
out Ms wings, jumped from his perch, and after 
flying across the river, walked up in a gallant style, 
no doubt expecting to meet and woo and win a fair 
and lovely turkey hen. As he came up sideways, 
strutting, now and then gobbling and striking 
haughtily the earth with his huge wings, I did indeed 
admire him. At forty yards from my 'blind,' he 
fell a bleeding victim to misplaced confidence. Oh ! 
he was an imperial fellow, weighing eighteen and 
three-quarter pounds. 

" Barely had the beautiful visions of hope faded in 
the imperial mind of the majestic gobbler, when I 
heard a noise resembling the snort of a buck. Turn- 
ing round, there stood before me a large deer, just fifty 
yards off. In ah instant, nine buckshot from my 
trusty double-barrel pierced him through the neck, 
and he was added to my morning's trophies, making 
in all one hundred and fifty pounds of venison, turkey 
and fish, which I tied to the limb of a tree and left 
on the river bank until I returned home, got my 
breakfast and sent a cart for. 

" After my morning's sport, I wrote a letter, of a 
column, for the Picayune., went out among my sheep, 
dined, and in the evening, after reading that pastoral 
of Virgil, commencing 

" ' Tityre, tu patulee recubans sub tegmine f agi,' 



EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 567 

indulged in reflections upon the times of Virgil com- 
pared with the present, and the great superiority of 
our Constitutional Republican Government over the 
imperial despotism of Rome. 

" When Yirgil wrote the above line, Augustus had 
confiscated the lands and homes of all the inhabi- 
tants of his section of the empire, for having sided 
against his party in the civil war, which had just 
terminated, leaving him in possession of supreme 
power. 

" The clemency of the Government of the United 
States has left us our homes, our property and insti- 
tutions, except our peculiar one of negro slavery, the 
abolition of which Southerners now look upon as a 
real blessing. 

"With reflections such as these, and meditating 
upon the future greatness and glory of the American 
people, about nine o'clock I retired for the calm sleep 
and pleasant dreams which always repay the laborer 
for his toil." 

In this account of one day's life of a distinguished 
Texan, most accomplished gentleman and beloved 
fi^end, I have confined myself to the words as they 
fell from his lips, to the best of my recollection. 

But he says nothing of wild ducks, geese, cranes, 
plover, quail, squirrels, rabbits, etc., which are 
abundant. 



568 mSTOBY OF texas. 

Sportsmen have killed as many as two and three 
hundred ducks in a day, but the geese and cranes 
(esteemed by epicures as superior to the turkey) fly 
higher, and are not so easily killed. 

Curlew are killed by the thousand, as they come 
and go in great numbers. 

Having been brought up in the country myself, I am 
not ignorant of the pleasures of hunting, fishing and 
farming. Indeed, when fortune smiles upon my ef- 
forts and blesses me with a few thousand dollars, I 
intend to buy me a farm on the Trinity, Brazos, Coh 
orado, Guadalupe, or some one of the many beauti- 
ful streams of the Lone Star State, in which the fish- 
erman can delight himself in catching bass, trout, 
perch, rock, sheepshead, flounder, cat, and king fish, 
besides many others too tedious to mention, and 
where with but little labor I can raise an abundant 
supply of provisions, and have most of my time for 
hunting, fishing and literary enjoyment. There are 
thousands of Texans now living in this way. 

Col. Tom Scott, after visiting Texas, thus speaks of 
it: 

"For the past two or three weeks, in company 
with Colonel Forney and General Dodge, I ij.ave been 
making a tour through Northeastern Texas, which is 
the location of that line intended to be built from the 
eastern line of the State of Texas, through to the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. ggg. 

Pacific coast. In making this visit to Texas, the first 
time in my life that I have ever been in that region, 
I may state to you, very briefly, the impression made 
npon my mind in relation to that country for produc- 
tions and for the extension of railroad facilities. We 
found in Texas, very much to our surprise, a country 
capable of producing all your great staples, to a de- 
gree that is remarkable. We found there, within a 
circle of a few miles, as good wheat, good corn, good 
cotton, good tobacco, good oats, all grown on the same 
soil, as I have ever seen standing on the ground in any 
part of the world. I believe that the country can 
produce — that the State of Texas will produce — more 
of those great staples than are produced to-day in 
the balance of the United States." 

The Patriot^ of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, years 
ago, truthfully said : 

"Texas has, beyond all question, superior advan- 
tages over every other State in the Union. Its soil 
not only yields a larger return of sugar and cotton 
than any other portion of the United States, but for 
the raising of the cereals it far outstiips the heaviest 
productions of the Genesee valley. ISTot only is 
Texas most prolific in the production of cotton, sugar, 
grain, fruits and vegetables, but it far excels all other 
portions of the habitable globe for the breeding of 
cattle. Texas is an empire within itself, embracing 



570 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

every variety of soil and climate. There are millions 
of dollars in prospective to enterprising men, and 
pleasant liomes and a competency for all who may 
venture within her borders." 

The Washington Chronicle^ corroborating the state- j 
ment of the Patriot^ also very truthfully says : 

" Texas possesses the advantages of a salubrious 
climate, a soil unsurpassed in fertility — adapted to the 
growth of all the cereals; produces the very finest 
short staple as well as sea-island cotton, and possesses 
inexhaustible mineral wealth. The rich grazing fields 
of Northern Texas, known as the ' black waxy land,' 
produce not only fine crops of wheat, oats, rye, barley 
and corn, but are also well adapted to cotton. The 
lands of Middle and Northern Texas produce on an 
average 600 pounds of ginned cotton to the acre. One 
man can easily cultivate ten acres in corn and ten in 
cotton. The corn alone will pay the expense of culti- 
vating and gathering the entire crop, and leaves the 
farmer the net profit of, say at least 5,000 pounds of 
cotton, which at present prices would be worth $1,150, 
currency. These same lands produce all kinds of 
fruits, except the strictly tropical, to which may be 
added the great advantage of free pasturage, whereby 
a thrifty farmer can, in a few years, sell from one to. 
three thousand dollars' worth of stock, wool and, 
hides, making a net profit for one man of from one to 



HI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 571 

four thousand dollars per year, wMcli certainly can- 
not be excelled in any country. Texas is emphati- 
cally the country for industrious poor men/ " 

Many crops of cotton and corn have been raised 
without more subsistence to either man or beast than 
the abundance of game and grass to be found in the 
glades and prairies. 

Manufactures do not flourish in Texas. 

Its beautiful livers with arrowy swiftness still 
flow through vast regions of rich and productive 
lands, and mingle with the waters of the Gulf, with- 
out turning machinery of one-millionth part of their 
capacity. 

In San Antonio and Austin, many years ago, the 
machinery of the mills was run by wheels propelled 
by the natural swiftness and force of the San An- 
tonio and Colorado rivers, without any dams what- 
ever. 

Houston, "Waco, New Braunfels and Hempstead 
have taken the lead in erecting manufacturing estab- 
lishments. 

By the laws of Texas 320 acres of land are granted 
to the introducer for every $1,000 worth of ma- 
chinery introduced and operated in Texas, yet but 
few persons or companies have engaged in the busi- 
ness. 

Texans buy sugar, rice, molasses, shoes, hats, cloth- 



572 HIS TOBY OF TEXAS. 

ing of all kinds, saddlory, waggons, carriages, and 
almost all their wooden ware, besides farming imple- 
ments, household and kitchen furniture, from a dis- 
tance. True, it would save expenses of transportation, 
tariffs, and intermediate profits were they to manufac- 
ture their own articles of consumption, but they are 
not a manufacturing people. 

Shall I go farther and inform strangers that Tex- 
ans buy and consume many thousands of dollars' 
worth of concentrated milk, as well as butter, pickles, 
canned goods and preserves put up in and transported 
from Boston, Mass. ? 

I doubt not, in the course of time, when New Eng- 
land capitalists learn that the manufacture of all 
kinds of cotton and woollen goods in Texas will pay 
better than in New England, that some of them may 
voluntarily go down to Texas and invest their capital 
and skill in the development of our unrivalled capaci- 
ties as a manufacturing state. 

Peaches, apples, and grapes are very abundant in 
Texas. I have never seen larger or finer apples and 
peaches grown anywhere than in Texas, and as for 
the grapes, they grow wild and in great abundance. 

I have known many persons to make several bar- 
rels of wine yearly just from the wild grapes gath- 
ered in the woods. 

I have sometimes gathered a quantity of wild 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 573 

grapes in tlie forest, and, after eating them, felt an 
exhilarating effect similar to that produced by drink- 
ing wine. 

With a few exceptions, however, Texans pay no at- 
tention to the cultivation of the vine, the growth of 
the grape, or the filling of their cellars. 

When a few emigrants from France and Germany 
shall have planted their vineyards in Texas and made 
wine from our cultivated native grapes, I doubt not 
that it will be unsurpassed by the famous brands of 
Verzeney, Heidseick, Mound Vineyard, Napoleon, or 
even the renowned Johannisberg. 

But Texans are even behind Californians as to the 
cultivation of the vine, the growth of grapes and the 
making of wine. 

They seem to forget that the first miracle of our 
Saviour was to change water into wine, and that His 
last command to erring mortals was to di'ink it in 
remembrance of Him. 

Never did I hear one of them repeat, In vino Veri- 
tas, but often such legends as the following : 

"After the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the 
garden of Paradise, Adam planted the vine, which, as 
Satan beheld in passing by, his majesty was pleased 
with and took under his especial care. / 

" He first caught a little lamb, and killing it, poured 
its blood upon the roots of the plant which grew 



574 EI8T0EY OF TEXAS. 

luxuriantly ; next lie captured a lion, and after slay- 
ing it, poured its blood also on tlie roots of the vine 
and it grew amazingly. On visiting his favorite the 
third time, his satanic majesty brought the hog, 
slaughtered and poured its blood upon the roots of 
the vine, when it grew wonderfully and brought forth 
fruit which, strange to say, when made into wine 
gives to the descendants of Adam, when taken, the 
characteristic disposition of these three animals. 

" When taken moderately, wine causes a man to feel 
gentle and playful like the lamb ; when taken im- 
moderately, it makes him fierce and bloody like the 
lion; and when taken to the extreme^ gives him the 
disposition of the hog to wallow in the mire." 

Camp-meeting songs are often heard in the hamlets 
of the poor and the fine residences of the rich, at 
a late hour of the night ; but that familiar old song 
of— 

" Landlord, fill the flowing bowl, 

Until it doth run over ! 
For to-night we'll merry be, merry be, 
For to-night we'll merry be, merry be, 
For to-night we'll merry be, merry be, 

To-morrow we'll get sober ! " 

is never heard. 

The following sample of logic from the irreligious 
pen of an old wine-bibber would be considered by 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 575 

the good people of the Lone Star State as infamous 
and horrible : 

" Good wine makes good blood, 
Good blood causeth good humors, 
Good humors cause good thoughts, 
Good thoughts bring forth good works, 
Good works carry a man to heaven ; 

ergo 
Good wine carrieth a man to heaven." 

"Without a doubt the following lines, from a popular 
song of the boys at West Point when out on a " tear," 
would be anathematized : 

" Here's a health to General Jackson, 

God bless the old hero ! 
May he rest upon his laurels 

And never know of woe ; 
May he rest upon his lam-els, 

And never know of woe ; 
And drink his whiskey every night. 

At Benny Haven's, O, 

" The commentators tell us all. 

That when above we go 
We'll follow that same handicraft 

We followed here below. 
If this be true philosophy — 

The preachers say so too — 
Then, oh ! what days and nights we'll have 

At Benny Haven's, O." 

Old Applejack and Peach brandy might be manu-' 



576 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

factured to any extent, and become a source of im- 
mense revenue to the state, but tliese, as well as 
Bourbon and Rye wMskeys, are almost entirely im- 
ported from Cincinnati, New Orleans, and New York. 

Thus Texans piously aid in building up and sus- 
taining the manufactiu'ing establishments of the older 
states, and let the capacities and resources of their 
own state lie dormant and undeveloped. 

Although fortunes have been- made, and are now 
being made in Texas, by planting cotton, making 
sugar, growing wheat, and stock-raising, I am of the 
opinion that any one skilled in vine-growing and 
wine-making might go there and not only accumu- 
late a fortune, but gain distinguished consideration 
and gi-eat glory, by turning the attention of Texans 
to the great but hitherto unproductive mine of wealth 
which now lies idle, dormant, and undeveloj^ed in the 
midst of their forests and wild woods, serving only as 
food for wild beasts and the birds of the air— not 
sour grapes by any means, but pleasant to the eye and 
taste. 

The mineral wealth of Texas, consisting in unlimit- 
ed deposits of coal, iron, copper, zinc, lead, gold, 
silver, salt, oil, manganese, cobalt, nickel, and bismuth, 
in a large portion of the country, lies just in the same 
condition it did when the great Jehovah first called it 
into existence. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 577 

A correspondent of the Cleburne Ohronicle, giving 
an account of the discovery of coal in Johnson County, 
exultingly ends his communication in these v^ords: 
" So you can see that it seems to be vs^ell scattered on 
the border of the rich prairie lands, and settlers 
thereon can have no fear of freezing, for ere long" 
these beds will be opened, and millions vrill be made 
to our country otherwise than by the superabundant 
crops of corn, cotton and wheat." 

"Yet gold all is not, that dotli golden seem," 

Or, as Shakespeare hath it : 

" All that glisters is not gold." 

And although coal may exist elsewhere, it would be 
rather hard to make Capt. Scogin believe now that 
Travis County has much of it. 

A correspondent of the Turf, Field and Farm thus 
tells how the captain was sold : 

"Do you know Capt. Wm. D. Scogin, head drummer 
for the well-known hardware house of Samuel Roose- 
velt <fe Co. ? I will introduce you to him. Bill, as he 
is familiarly called by his friends, is one-eyed, a swift 
talker, has been to California, and knows every hog- 
path in Arkansas and Texas. 

" Taking Capt. Billy up one hill and down another, 

' he is a regular brick.' 
. 25 



578 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

" He was in Austin a month or two ago, and stmck 
He, or rather got oil-struck. 

" Some everlasting reprobate about our town bought 
a gallon of oil, carried it out to a deep ravine about 
two miles from our city, and poured it out on^ the 
ground. 

" After this he told of discovering oil, and thousands 
of people immediately congregated 'thar or thara- 
abouts.' 

" Captain Scogin came, he saw, he conquered, that is, 
he had travelled, he knew what was what, and forth- 
with invested a few hundred dollars: a company 
was immediately organized and boring commenced. 

"At first the indications were favorable, then more 
favorable; oil and cannel coal. I met Bill on his 
return from the mine, when, slapping me on the 
shoulder he said: 'Well, ole fel, I've made a ten 
strike at last ! There's no use talking. By the ever- 
lasting gods, heathen mythology and Scandinavian 
history, I've struck ile. 

" ' Now won't I have a gay time in New York when 
the drumming season commences ? 

" ' Won't I ask the boys up to drink champagne, 
when they come around to the Metropolitan Hotel ? 

" ' Won't I tell 'em about having been poor once 
myself ? 

" * Why, bless your soul ! I'm going to buy me four 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 579 

or five acres of brown stone fronts on Fifth j^^venue. 
But, Colonel, Avon't my wife feel tappy ? Won't 
Mary feel joyous? I am going to settle a million on 
her and the children immediately, so in case of acci- 
dent she'll always be independent. 

" ' Colonel, I reckon I've got the best wife in the 
world. Won't she be glad ? ' 

" After he had run on thusly for a while, I intimated 
something about his dividing with his friends. 

" He went on : 

" ' I wrote to Mr. Koosevelt that he misrht come iu 
with me — half interest ! Sam Koosevelt is a mighty 
good man ! There's enough for both of us, so I am 
going to let him in, but nobody else need apply. 

" ' Colonel, come, let's go and take a drink ! Whoop 
pee ! ole fel ; did you ever feel rich ? You bet I'm 
going to lead a gay and festive life — 

" ' Gay and hapjjy^ gay and happy ; 
We'll be gay and happy still.' 

" Thus Capt. Billy carried on for hours, but finally 
the boi'ing ceased ; the truth leaked out ; there was 
neither oil nor coal, and away went the captain's 
brown-stone fronts like 'the baseless fabric of a 
vision.' " 

The financial condition of Texas is a source of 
pleasant reflection to its citizens. 



580 HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 

Gov. Coke's Message of the lOth of February, 1874, 
wliich is based uj)on the reports of the comptroller 
and treasurer, shows the public debt of Texas, includ- 
ing interest to the 1st of September, 1874, to be 
$2,248,831.75. 

Gov. Coke says : " The revenues which have been 
paid by the people, and should have prevented the 
accumulation of debt, have been squandered and 
filched by those whom a cruel fortune placed in her 
offices of trust." 

His Message also shows the taxable property of 
Texas, for 1874, to be $240,420,000, and he very justly 
says : " With her vast resources and rapidly increas- 
ing taxable values, the public debt of Texas is as 
nothing. " 

Whetlier by a reduction of the salaries of state offi 
cers or by the issue of state warrants drawing interest 
from date till paid, or how this debt is to be paid or 
its increase stopped, are questions for the consideration 
of our legislators. 

No state of the Union has shown a greater desire for 
the advancement of learning than Texas. 

The Constitution of 1836 made it "the duty of 
Congress, as soon as circumstances would admit, to 
provide, by law, a general system of education." 

In 1839, the Texas Congress gave 50 leagues of land 
for the endowment of a University, and three leagues 



EI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 581 

(wliicli were increased in 1840 to four leagues) for 
scliool purposes. 

The Constitution of 1845 made it tlie duty of tlie 
Legislature to provide for free schools, and in 1854, 
$2,000,000, paid by the government in the purchase of 
Sante Fe, was given to the common school fund, the 
interest only to be expended, while the principal was 
loaned to railroads. 

In 1860, 104,447 pupils were taught in the com- 
mon schools of Texas, at the cost of $104,447, but in 
1861, and during the days of the late Confederate 
States, they were deserted by the boys and girls for 
the field and fireside ; while tlie hoys made history at 
Bull Kun, Manassas, Gains' Mill, Malvern Heights, 
Sbarpsburg, Oak Hills, Mansfield, Fredericksburg, in 
the Wilderness, and on many other sad and mournful 
battle-fields, which their children and their children's 
children may read with admiration of their impetuous 
valor, — the girls used the cards and spinning-wheels, 
the loom and their needles, to supply them with 
clothing. 

Since the war, the present Constitution of Texas has 
given to the public schools all the proceeds from the 
sale of public lands, one-fourth of the state revenue, 
and the poll-tax of one dollar on every citizen of the 
state. 

The last annual report of the comptroller shows 



582 EI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 

that $690,762.04 were paid by tlie state for public 
scliools, ill whicli 227,615 pupils were taught by 3,687 
teachers, during the last year. 

It is very much to be regretted that the University 
exists only on the records of the state,' but it is 
earnestly hoped that ere long suitable buildings will 
be erected, a library and scientific apparatus pur- 
chased, qualified teachers employed, and its career as 
a first-class institution of learning commenced. 

The Agricultural College near the fair and pros- 
perous city of Bryan, although a state institution, and 
the finest college building in Texas, and very credit- 
able to the state, should not do away with the Uni- 
versity. 

Yet schools and colleges, public and j^rivate, have 
been established in many cities and towns of Texas, in 
which the minds of the youth are learned to think, 
reason, and reflect, and their powers of thought (the 
grand object of education^ trained, strengthened, and 
developed, while their memories are stored with useful 
information and the wisdom of ages. 

In order to give an idea of the advancement of two 
students at Austin, I. here insert an address of one 
before a debating club, upon oratory, and a burlesque 
on the yellow-backed literature and trashy novels of 
the day, by another. 

They are as follows, and explain themselves : 



HISTORY OF TEXAS, 



ORATORY. 

Geisttlemeist : — The power of arresting and fixing 
tlie attention of an audience upon any subject, and so 
discussing it as to excite tlie passions and convince the 
understanding, has always been held in the highest 
repute among the most civilized nations of the old 
and new world. 

Indeed, the accomplishment of so addressing an 
audience on any given subject as to make it feel as yoii 
feel, think as you think, and act as you would have it 
act, is one of the rarest and most difficult things for 
you to acquire in this life. 

Greece had but one Demosthenes, Rome but one 
Cicero, England but one Fox, France but one Mira- 
beau, and America but one Patrick Henry. Yet the 
first named should give you encouragement that 
oratory is not a natural gift, but an accomplishment, 
which may be acquired by labor and perseverance, for 
the impediment in his speech and his awkward man- 
ner of action while speaking, are kno^vn to the school- 
l^oy. 

In order to develop his voice, he spoke to the roar- 
ing sea ; to acquire distinct enunciation, he spoke with 
pebbles under his tongue ; and to obtain that grace or 
8uaviier in modo, so pleasing to an audience, he spoke 
under the sharp point of a sword sus23ended over his 



584 EISTOBT OF TEXAS. .^ 

slioulder. Then, again, his great preparation before 
delivering his orations — shaving one side of his head 
so that he could not go out into society until his hair 
grew out again, but would be compelled to stay in his 
room and thus have all his time for labor, should not 
escape your attention. As his orations are most ex- 
cellent, we may conclude that in their preparation he 
laid down his major and minor premises clearly, before 
he said therefore^ and drew his conclusion. So, with- 
out doubt, Demosthenes had studied logic — or syllo- 
gistic reasoning. And when we see how appro- 
priately and elegantly he used the climax, simile, 
metaphor and trope — how replete his orations are with 
allusions, personifications, and allegories, artfully in- 
terwoven so as to please, dazzle, and fascinate his 
hearers, we may believe that he had often bm'ned the 
midnight lamp over the pages of rhetoric. So you 
may conclude, that were you to ask me by what 
means you can soonest become good debaters, I should 
recommend the studies of logic and rhetoric. 

The beautiful and masterly oration of Cicero in 
defence of Milo is the plain syllogism. Any one who 
kills another in self-defence is justifiable. Milo killed 
Claudius in self-defence, therefore Milo was justifiable. 
However, these will be of little use without practice 
and the continued use of the rules therein laid down. 
So necessary is practice to debaters, that they 



HISTORY OF TUJXAS. 585 

have been known, in tlie absence of hearers, to speak 
before looking-glasses. I have often heard it said that 
a poor thing well spoken was more effective than a good 
thing poorly spoken; indeed, the orator has been 
accused of making the worst appear the better cause. 

JEschines, who was the competitor of Demosthenes 
after his banishment, taught a school of rhetoric, and 
on one occasion delivered to his class the oration of 
Demosthenes on the crown, and was highlj applauded, 
when he remarked : " Could you have heard Demos- 
thenes himself deliver his oration, your applause 
would have been much greater." 

There is a tone of voice and a manner of acting 
what one says, which are frequently more eloquent 
than the things said. Often actors, on the stage, so 
pathetically act their parts in the play as to bring 
tears into the eyes of observers and hearers, who might 
read the play in their rooms with ordinary emo- 
tions. 

Shakespeare, in his celebrated play of Hamlet, gives 
the following advice to actors, which is, like all things 
produced by that great man, most excellent : " Speak 
the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trip- 
pingly on the tongue ; but if you mouth it, as many 
of our players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my 
lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your 

hand, thus ; but use all gently, for in the very torrent, 
25* 



586 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 

tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of your 
passion, yoii must acquire and beget a temperance 
tLat may give it smootliness. Oli, it o:ffends me to tlie 
soul to hear a robustious, periwig-pated fellow tear a 
pa«sion to tatters, to very rags, to split tlie ears of 
the groundlings ; who, for the most part, are capable 
of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise. 
I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing 
Termagant ; it out-herods Herod ; pray you, avoid it. 
Be not too tame neither, but let your discretion be 
your tutor ; suit the action to the word, the word to 
i?he action ; with this special observance, that you o'er- 
step not the modesty of nature, for anything so over- 
done is from the purpose of jilaying, whose end, both 
at the first and now, was and is to hold as 'twere the 
mirror up to nature ; to show virtue her own feature, 
scorn her own image, and the yqvj age and body of 
the time his form and pressure. Now, this overdone, 
or come tardy ofP, though it make the unskilful laugh, 
cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of 
which one must, in your allowance, o'erweigh a whole 
theatre of others. . Oh, there be players that I have 
seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, 
— not to speak it profanely, that neither having the 
accent of Christians, nor the gait of Chiistian, pagan, 
nor man, have so strutted and bellowed, that I have 
thought some of nature's joui'neymen had made men, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 587 

and not made them well, they imitated humanity so 
abominably." 

But, besides the study of logic, rhetoric and acting, 
any one desirous of excelling as a speaker should not 
be unacquainted with history and poetry. 

When Patrick Henry exclaimed: "Caesar had his 
Brutus, Charles I. had his Cromwell, and George III. 
— may he profit by their example ! " he made the fact 
known that he was not ignorant either of ancient or 
modern history. When Mr. Webster, in his famous 
speech on the Constitution, spoke of State rights, indi- 
vidual security, and public prosperity, he illustrated 
his subject by allusions to the Colosseum and the Pm^- 
tlienon — Greece and Bome. The great Irish orator, 
Phillips, in contrasting our western world with the 
departed glory of oriental empires, alludes to the 
ancient glory but present decay of Palmyra and Per- 
sepolis. Cicero, in one of his orations, alludes to the 
impropriety of a man sick with fever drinking copi- 
ously of cold water to allay it, when the opposite 
effect is generally produced. From which fact we 
may conclude that Cicero had some knowledge of 
medicine. Indeed, what Dr. Johnson says of the poet 
may well be said of the orator, who, like the editor of 
a newspaper, is supposed, at least by some, to be 
ignorant of nothing, but should be acquainted with 
all the arts and sciences, and draw his illustrations 



588 EI8T0BY OF TEXAS. 

from Esculapius and Arcliimedes as well as from 
Homer and Herodotus — -and as soon as they are in- 
vented of a safe character, be as well able to navigate 
the air in aerial vehicles as the ocean in steamships. 

Lord Byron said that to be a good poet one must 
commence writing verses in his youth, and keej) it up 
to old age ; so it is with oratory and all things apper- 
taining to poor, frail humanity — they must be culti- 
vated, increased and developed by practice, labor and 
perseverance ! You must practise it, labor at it, and 
persevere in it. 

It was once my good fortune to hear the Rev. 
Henry Ward Beecher preach a most excellent sermon 
on the development of the religious principle in the 
human heart. He asserted that as the blacksmith, 
by constantly wielding the sledge-hammer, caused 
the muscles and strength of his arm to increase; as 
the speed of the swift-footed race-horse may be in- 
creased by training, so the religious principle, by 
conversation and association with pious people, the 
study of the Bible and other religious books, may 
be increased and greatly strengthened in the hearts 
of men. 

The greatest man of this age was the great novel- 
ist, poet and orator, Bulwer, who, throughout his 
works, but nowhere more forcibly or more beautifully 
than in his character of Claude Melnotte, in the Lady 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 589 

of Lyons, holds out tlie grand idea of self-cultivation 
and development. 

Tlie gardener's son, by study, application, and perse- 
verance, makes liimself superior in all those accom- 
plishments which dignify and ennoble mortals, to the 
titled aristocrats with whom he came in contact. 

But there is no i-oyal nor easy I'oad to the proud 
eminence on which the orator stands — from which he 
may look back 

" And scorn the base degrees by which he did ascend." 

No one better than he can exclaim with sincerity : 

" Ah ! who can tell how hard it is to climb 
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar ? " 



THE BLUE ROBBER OF THE PINK MOUNTArN". 

Near the close of the thirteenth century, Sir Hil- 
debrand Hiltersplit, covered with a complete panoply 
of neuter verbs and relative pronouns, commenced his 
ascent of Mount Paphros, that lies in the Gutta 
Percha Pange. Arriving at the summit, he beheld, 
stretched out before his excited imagination, the 
beautiful valley of Neuralgia. There he saw the sea- 
horse and the crocodile sporting side by side, the 
reindeer and the humming-bird flitting from flower to 
flower, and the melodious watermelon and the ising- 
glass growing upon the same vine. 



590 HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 

Upon tlie banks of an umbrageons stream that ran 
careering from the mountain-side, and nestled in a 
small Alpine grove, reposed the tent of the ancient 
Barbacon~the grand Clam-sloop of the country. At 
about the hour of h.alf-past four o'clock in the after- 
noon — Ms daughter, the fair Sarsaparilla, clad in chlo- 
roform, and waving her nascent and sporadic sceptre, 
entered the presence of the ancient Barbacon her fa- 
ther, bearing in her left hand a small dish of stewed 
parasangs and fried conostropMes, on which her 
ancient sire made his evening repast. And seating 
herself on the asteroids of public grief in one corner 
of the pavilion, she poured forth her native gypsum 
in the most delightful strains, as she swept the cords 
of her lio'ht bandana. 

Attracted by this wonderful operatic copologo. Sir 
Hildebrand Hiltersplit entered the apartment, and 
throwing himself at her feet doled out his love-ditty 
in the most mellifluous and oleas^inous cadences. 

Scarcely had he risen from his recumbent position 
M^hen the Blue Robber of the Pink Mountains broke 
into the apartment. At sight of this horrid monster, 
clad in the form of an obese fandango, the fair Sarsa- 
parilla shrieked, and uttered a cry so piercing that Sir 
Hildebrand Hiltersplit shrank into the interior of 
the ottoman. With the most audacious strides the 
robber approached the fair Sarsaparilla, and with his 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 59]^ 

left arm encircled her waist, M^hilst T^nth liis rieht 
hand he seized a small catapult of silver she wore 
suspended from her neck by a bill of lading. 

Agonizing with grief and unbounded rage, Sir Hil- 
debrand Hiltersplit darted from his place of conceal- 
ment and seizing a boot-jack, that lay " floating on 
the floor," stabbed the monster to the heart, and left 
the fair Sarsaparilla like an illuminating light stand- 
ing upon the binnacle of Irer own expectability, from 
which exalted position she looked down with min- 
gled scorn and contempt upon her bafiled pursuer. 



And now, dear reader, I close this work, with a 
feeling akin to that which one feels on parting with a 
beloved friend. 

May your future path be strewn with flowei's, and 
while ever ascending the hill of prosperity, may you 
never meet a friend ! 

In the language of the poet : 

"Farewell ! a word that must be, and hath been — 
A sound which makes us linger; — yet — ^farewell." 



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18^-'187e» 



